Tumblr Prompt Requests
by MkSC77
Summary: Chapter 18: A look at how present-day Shandy is adapting to being quarantined (no one's sick,everyone's alive, Andy is a toilet paper panic buyer). For A Better Ending (fix-it fic from right after the event that didn't happen where Sharon faked her death) fans, this includes a conversation about that ending. Prompt for "Can we stay like this forever."
1. Tumblr

**I wasn't planning to include these in Freaking Out at all, or even on this website, but if any of these little drabbles get good feedback, I many include more detailed versions later in my other story. These are random and pointless (even more so than my usual writing—hard to imagine, I know). Humor was the main intent of the first one, not a perfect example of the characters being true to the show. They also have nothing to do with Freaking Out, I've just used the same concepts and OCs.**

 **"** **Why can't you appreciate my sense of humor?"**

Sharon and Andy got home from a neighbor's party one night, and Sharon went straight to their bedroom to take off her bra. It had been itching like crazy for the last hour, and she couldn't figure out what the problem was. Andy watched her hastily pull her dress over her head and unhook her bra, curious to see what the rush was about. And, admittedly, a little optimistic about her urgency to get undressed. Sharon could tell what he was thinking, and he was going to be disappointed when he realized it was just an itchy bra that had caused her to hurry to the bedroom. She was briefly shocked when a tampon fell on the floor once her bra was loose, but then she remembered Emily asking her to "hold" it for her, since neither of them had taken their purses in or had pockets, and Emily couldn't hide it as well with what she was wearing. She'd ended up not needing it, and they'd both forgotten all about it.

The amused look on Andy's face turned to horror. He thought she'd mentioned menopause before, and he'd just assumed she was past the need for tampons, anyway, so he'd never thought twice about that or their absence of protection. There were some kind of pads under the bathroom sink, but he'd thought they were for...Well, not for her period. He'd just filed those under _things_ _I_ _don't_ _need_ _to_ _know_ _anything_ _about_ and moved on with life, but the tampon was making him second-guess his knowledge of the reproductive system. "You don't still—I mean—you can't get...You—" He sputtered.

Sharon rolled her eyes. She was over sixty, was he _seriously_ afraid she could get pregnant? Surely not, but that didn't stop her from messing with his head a little. " _That's_ why my bra was itching so badly. I ended up not needing it, and—"

Andy let out a sound that was somewhere between a gasp and a yelp. "I didn't think you ever _did_ need—uh—those."

"Tampon, Andy, it's called a tampon. You can say it. And I don't need them that much, but I'm not completely through menopause, either."

"But you can't, like...can you—"

"Get pregnant? Not likely." Sharon finished getting undressed and slipped a nightgown over her head.

"Not _likely_ , or not _possible_?! There's a bit of a difference, there." Andy's voice was getting higher and higher with each word, and the poor man looked panicked.

Sharon bit her lip, trying to hold out for just a couple more minutes. "I don't know—I—" she lost it and was soon laughing so hard that tears were streaming down her cheeks. "It was for _Emily_. She asked me to keep it for her, because her dress wouldn't have hidden it as well, and my bra is obviously bigger, anyway, and then she didn't need it and we both forgot about it."

"That wasn't one damn bit funny," Andy muttered.

Sharon moved closer to Andy and slipped her arms around his waist. "Why can't you appreciate my sense of humor?"

"That wasn't humor, that was cruelty."

Sharon stood on her tiptoes to kiss him. "I have a feeling you'll get over it."

 **MCMCMCMCMCMCMCMCMCMCMCMCMCMCMCMCMCMCMCMCMCMCMC**

" **They're so cute when they're asleep."**

Sharon walked into the living room with a warmed bottle of milk in her hand one Friday night. "All right, baby girl, I think it's time for a bath and bedtime." She picked the drowsy seven-month-old up off of the floor and handed her and the bottle to Andy. "Mind feeding her while I run her bath?"

"I think I can handle that for my sweet girl." Andy arranged Marie in his arms and offered her the bottle.

Sharon went back to the bathroom that had been Emily's and Emmett's before they found a house, as she had kept some baby things there after they moved out, and started the bath water. Emily and Emmett were in New York for a friend's wedding for the weekend, so Sharon and Andy were keeping Marie. Ricky was home for the weekend, and he and Rusty had gone to a movie. While Sharon was waiting, she gathered a fresh diaper, nightgown, and sleep sack and placed them on the bed. She tested the temperature of the bath water and let it fill a little more before turning it off and going to get the baby. Marie was finishing up her bottle by the time Sharon came back in, and she held her hands out to her. "All right, tell Papa night-night."

"Night-night, sweet girl." Andy kissed Marie's forehead and rubbed her back. She whimpered and rubbed her eyes throughout her bath, so Sharon did the bare minimum and skipped the playtime. "Okay, that's enough." She lifted the baby out of the bathtub and wrapped her in a soft yellow, hooded towel before carrying her into what was now the guest bedroom to dry her off and get her ready for bed. Once she was dry and had lotion on, Sharon taped a diaper on her and struggled with the squirming baby to get her gown on her. Marie screamed and reached for Sharon, not liking being messed with when she was so tired.

"I'm sorry, sweetheart, Gammy kept you up a little too late, didn't she?" Sharon quickly zipped Marie into the sleep sack, picked her up, and found a spare pacifier. "Okay, honey, let's go rock." Emily was adamant about putting Marie down for bed when she was still awake, but Sharon liked to rock her to sleep and hold her for a few minutes before she put her down. Hell, what Emily didn't know wouldn't hurt her. "You're not going to rat me out to Mommy, are you?" Sharon cooed as she settled in the recliner with the baby in her arms. She turned on the white noise app on her phone, which had been a lifesaver in Marie's earlier days when she was much more difficult to get quiet, and patted the baby's back as she rocked. It didn't take long for Marie to fall asleep, and Sharon looked down at her and inhaled her sweet baby smell for a few minutes before begrudgingly laying her down in the pack 'n play in her and Andy's room. The sound machine was still on from her last nap, and Sharon made sure the pack 'n play was empty before lowering Marie to the small mattress. "Sweet dreams, baby girl," Sharon murmured as she ran her hand through Marie's thin, light brown hair. She quietly cracked the door behind her, stopped in the kitchen for a glass of wine, and went back to the living room.

"Want to watch a movie?" Andy asked.

"Sure. You can pick."

"Nah, you can pick. If we start something I pick this late, you'll get bored and fall asleep in ten minutes."

"I don't _sleep_ ," Sharon insisted, "I rest my eyes."

Andy snorted. "Yeah. If you drool that much while you're _resting_ _your_ _eyes,_ you would drown yourself when you're really asleep."

"I don't drool!"

"Tell it to my shirts, honey."

"Pick out a movie. I will _not_ fall asleep."

Andy gave her a dubious look as she curled up beside him in the recliner, but he navigated through Netflix and picked something. Sharon sipped her wine and made a valiant effort to stay awake, but Andy's shoulder was so inviting, and taking care of a seven month old all day had worn her out. She couldn't stop her eyes from starting to close. "I'm _not_ asleep," she murmured.

"Whatever you say." Andy wrapped his arm around her and started to drift off himself, with his chin resting on the top of her head.

Ricky and Rusty came home as the movie was ending, and Sharon and Andy hadn't moved. Sharon's glasses had drifted halfway down her face and her mouth was hanging open, and Andy was lightly snoring with his face nestled in Sharon's hair. Ricky looked around. "At least we didn't have to worry about walking in on something that would scar us for life...They're so cute when they're asleep."

Rusty rolled his eyes. "Just wait until they wake up. They'll be right back to being disgusting."


	2. Chapter 2

**Again, these are pointless and just for fun. I took some liberties with characterization. I'm sorry for the influx of sickness recently, but the request specified that they wanted fluff :)**

 **"What's the matter, sweetie?"**

Sharon was slightly taken aback to hear a key in the door to the kitchen from the garage at 3:00 on a Wednesday afternoon. Emily was expected back from Marie's pediatrician appointment soon, and she sometimes came through the garage from the driveway instead of the front door, but she could tell from the fumbling and more forceful movements that it was Andy rather than Emily. If Sharon was in the kitchen, she could always tell who was coming in by the way they unlocked the door before they were in the house. Andy had been perfectly fine when he kissed her goodbye that morning, but he trudged slowly into the kitchen with slumped shoulders and flushed cheeks. "Andy?"

"I'm just dying, no need to worry," he muttered.

Sharon walked over to him and raised her hand to his forehead. "What's the matter, sweetie? You feel a little warm."

"I don't know. I was fine all day, and then I got my Shingles vaccine during lunch, and I didn't last an hour back at work before Hernandez sent me home."

"Hmm, I've heard of people reacting like this to the shot, but it should only last a few hours. Do you feel achy, or have chills or a headache?"

"Yeah, all of that."

Sharon wrapped her arm around his waist and gave him a light squeeze. "Go put your pjs on. I'll make up the couch and get you some Advil."

"My _pjs_?"

"Sorry. I'm in Mom Mode." Sharon tucked a clean sheet into the couch cushions and put a bed pillow and Andy's favorite blanket on the couch. Once he was settled, she brought him some medicine and a glass of water.

"You just _had_ to make me get this damn shot." Sharon had been on his ass to get the vaccine, and he'd finally done it.

Sharon smoothed her hand over his forehead. "It's better than having Shingles, I can promise you."

"I think it's probably a little better than you hounding me about it, too."

Sharon swatted his shoulder. "All right, sickling, get some rest." She kissed his forehead and pulled the blanket up over his shoulders before tossing the remote in his lap and leaving the room.

After dinner, Andy was back on the couch, and Emily was trying to calm down a fussy Marie. "I'm just going to go ahead and bathe her and put her to bed. I think she's a little out of sorts from her shots." She put her hand over the baby's head. "Mom? She doesn't feel warm, does she? Dr. Romano said she could get a fever from her shots, but..."

Sharon pressed her cheek to Marie's forehead. "Nah, she feels all right. It wouldn't hurt to give her some Tylenol before you put her down, though. She's probably a little sore, and it'll keep her from getting a fever after she's asleep. It's okay, honey, Papa's shot made him cranky, too."

Andy held his arms out for Marie. "I'll hold her while you get her bath ready. We can be miserable together." He took her from Emily and settled her against his chest. "Maybe I can get some sympathy from Gammy if I'm holding you."

Sharon rolled her eyes. "You've gotten _plenty_ of sympathy." She looked up as Rusty came in from school. "Hi, honey. Your plate's in the oven."

"Thanks, Mom. What's wrong with them?" He asked, nodding at Andy and Marie.

"They got their shots today."

"Oh...Wait, _they_?"

"Andy got his Shingles vaccine, and it can sometimes cause a little fever."

"A _little_ fever? I feel like I got hit by a bus!" Andy moaned.

"Aw, Andy, did you at least get a lollipop for being a brave boy?" Rusty teased.

"Funny, kid," Andy grumbled.

Later that night, Sharon got ready for bed and brought Andy more Advil before climbing in beside him. "Are you feeling any better?"

"Not much. It's freezing in here."

Sharon took his glass of water to the kitchen and came back with an extra blanket. "I bumped the thermostat up." She leaned down and kissed his forehead. "I think your fever went down a little bit. You should be fine in the morning."

" **Safety** **first. What are you, five?"**

Sharon soaked in a bath early one Saturday evening until she finally had to get out and get dressed. Rusty was visiting Ricky for the weekend, and she and Andy were cooking dinner together at the condo. They'd been on the on-ramp for sex recently, and with Rusty being gone for the weekend, there seemed to be a bit of an unspoken agreement that tonight was the night. Andy had slept over several times, and they'd slowly seen each other in various stages of undress, but they'd stopped short of complete undress and sex every time. Sharon didn't want Andy to have any doubts about her intentions tonight, so she finally decided to be dressed in a new navy chemise when he arrived and let that speak for her. She played music from her phone and sipped a couple of glasses of wine as she put on her makeup and curled her hair. Hell, a little liquid courage wouldn't hurt anything.

When Andy arrived with grocery bags in his hands, it was clear that he was aware of the unspoken agreement. He smelled damn good, and he looked even better. "Hey...Oh. My." He knew he was staring, but he couldn't tear his eyes away from her.

Sharon took the grocery bags from his hands and placed them on the counter. She'd caught him staring at her body before, of course, but he'd at least had the presence of mind to look embarrassed and quickly avert his gaze. He didn't seem capable of doing any such thing at the moment. His eyes were shamelessly fixated on her cleavage, but she wasn't complaining. She stood on her tiptoes for what was meant to be a quick kiss, but Andy wasn't having it. His hands crept below her chemise, and the "quick kiss" was quickly leading to the bedroom. Sharon managed to push Andy's face away from hers. "Don't you want to eat first?"

"Not hungry." _Not for food, anyway._

They made their way to the bedroom, and when Sharon felt the beginnings of a familiar, and long overdue, bulge against her, she reached over to get a condom from her nightstand drawer. Andy was a little confused. "I didn't even think to bring—I thought you would've already—"

"I was a little late to the menopause party, and I'm pretty sure I'm through it, but I'm not positive. Safety first."

" _Safety_ _first_?! What are you, _five_?"

"What are you, someone who wants another child when you're looking at sixty?" Sharon knew that was probably next to impossible, but she wasn't willing to risk it for something as simple as protection.

"No, no, god no. I don't mind the condom, you just threw me with your hall monitor talk. Old habits, I guess."

Sharon gave Andy a look. "I'm starting to lose interest."

"Okay, okay." Andy shivered as Sharon's cool fingers gently got the condom in place, eager to get back to the task at hand. "Nothing wrong with a little safety."

" **Show me what's behind your back."**

"Lieutenant, you're not feeling well?" Amy asked after Andy spent most of the morning sneezing and sounding congested.

"Yeah, I think I've caught a cold."

"Huh," Provenza said with mock surprise. "The captain just had a cold last week. Weird."

Andy shot him a warning look. "You know how these things go, not one of us can catch something without eventually spreading it to everyone else."

"Yeah, but the captain's germs would be more isolated if _someone_ weren't sucking face with her all the time," Provenza muttered under his breath.

Andy had planned to go to dinner with Nicole's family and go to his house for the night, but he didn't want the boys to get sick, so he canceled. He readily agreed when Sharon suggested that he stay over since he'd canceled his plans. He needed to go by the cleaners, anyway, so work clothes wouldn't be a problem. He had spare toiletries at Sharon's, and he knew he probably had some clean pajamas and underwear there, too, so he didn't bother going home first. He didn't see anything wrong with this plan until after dinner when he was changing into his pajamas. That morning, feeling a little under the weather, he'd put on his warmest and most comfortable pair of boxers. They'd been given to him as a gag gift several years ago, but they were actually comfortable and ended up being his favorite pair. The problem was that, in the spirit of being a gag gift, there was an image of a Christmas gift in the groin area, and it said "nice package" over it. He quickly changed into clean boxers and pajamas and frantically looked around for somewhere to stash the boxers he'd just taken off. He and Sharon hadn't gotten to the sexual part of their relationship, despite his best efforts, but they were getting there, and seeing each other's underwear wasn't a new thing anymore. But she couldn't see _this_ underwear. Sharon unexpectedly came back into the bedroom, and he panicked and held the boxers behind his back, like she wasn't going to notice that something was up.

Sharon gave him an odd look. "What's the matter?"

"Nothing. I just, uh, was...changing," Andy answered lamely.

"I can see that. What's behind your back?"

"Nothing." Andy stayed rooted to his spot, praying Sharon would just drop it and leave the room.

"Andy, just show me what's behind your back."

"It's embarrassing," he pleaded.

"Please, Andy, I think we've reached a point where we don't need to be embarrassed about anything." Having no other choice, he slowly revealed the boxers he was cursing himself for putting on that morning. They were crumpled in his hand, so all Sharon saw was red fabric. "Excuse my ignorance, but I'm failing to see what's embarrassing." She took them from his hands and held them up, and she didn't know whether to be confused about the fact that Christmas had come and gone weeks ago or that none of Andy's other boxers that she'd seen even _suggested_ he might own something like this. She laughed helplessly, and Andy glared at her when she accidentally snorted.

"They were a gag gift several years ago, but they're really comfortable. _Someone_ gave me their cold, and they just jumped out at me this morning."

"I'm sorry, honey, I just never expected you to have something like this. Everyone's allowed a guilty pleasure."

Andy tilted his head. "Huh. That's big talk from someone with a saggy pair of granny panties that's about to fall apart and probably should've been thrown out years ago."

Sharon's eyes widened. She'd kept them hidden since she'd even thought about the possibility of him starting to stay overnight. He was right, they should've been thrown out a long time ago, but they were comfortable and she just couldn't part with them yet. "How did you _know_ about those?!"

Andy grinned. "I didn't, but now I do."

"Andy!" She looked down at the boxers in her hand and back at him. "You know, I wouldn't mind seeing you in these."

"Oh, really? Give me a minute, and I'll see what I can do." Sharon left the room, and when she came back, Andy was wearing the boxers and nothing else. She walked over to him and moved her hands down his back and stroked the waistband of the boxers. He didn't tense up as her hands slowly moved even lower, like she might've done if the situation were reversed, so she gently gripped him through his boxers. Just to make sure they were telling the truth, of course. Andy pushed her hair back and kissed the side of her neck. "Trying to stay jolly all year long, huh?"

"Just have to make sure the boxers are accurate. I can't have a boyfriend who wears lying underwear."


	3. Chapter 3

" **Please put your penis away."**

Sharon sat at her desk in the condo, trying to get through her last bit of paperwork. Rusty was at Gus's for the night, and she and Andy planned to take advantage of his absence, but she was determined to finish her work first. Despite Andy's childish whines that it could wait until tomorrow. It sounded like he was getting clothes out of the dryer, so hopefully folding them would keep him busy for a few minutes.

Sharon peeked at Andy out of the corner of her eye as he dumped an armful of laundry on the couch and started folding, but rolled her eyes when she saw that he wasn't wearing a stitch of clothing. When they had the condo to themselves, he was like a two year old, preferring to be naked over wearing clothes. She always found it attractive when he folded clothes, washed dishes, or did other things around the condo, regardless of how dressed he was, and folding clothes in the nude wasn't doing a damn thing to help her concentration. And he knew it. His ass knew precisely what he was doing. "Andy, please, I'll be done soon, but distracting me won't help," Sharon said, her eyes never leaving her screen. "Please put your penis away, I promise I'm almost finished. My god, you're like a child."

"I will if you'll help me."

" _Andy_ —"

"Okay, okay. How many more minutes?" Andy whined.

"I'll tell you when your bare ass isn't staring me in the face."

"Fine, I'll put my damn penis away." Andy walked down the hall to the bathroom and came back in with a small towel barely wrapped around his waist. "Happy?"

"Ecstatic," Sharon murmured, without looking up.

" _Now_ how many more minutes?"

Jesus Christ. Sharon rubbed her eyes, trying to muster a few more minutes worth of focus. "If I'm not finished in ten minutes, then I'll take a break." She looked at her watch. "That means the small hand will be on the eight, and the big hand will be on the twelve," she couldn't help but add. As her gaze shifted back to her computer screen, she finally noticed Andy's appearance. "Are you _kidding_ me, Andrew?"

"What? You said to put my penis away, so I put my penis away. Can you see it?" Sharon rolled her eyes and shook her head. "Then it's _away_. My full first name was _totally_ uncalled for."

With an exasperated sigh, Sharon turned her attention back to her computer, but any chance she had of paying attention was gone. Screw it, Andy was right. Work could wait until tomorrow. She closed her computer screen and stood up. "If I _ever_ tell you to put your penis away again, please have me committed."

Andy threw the pajama pants he'd been folding back on the couch. "It's about damn time."

" **The** **kids,** **they** **ambushed** **me**."

This is ~4 years after the season that didn't happen, Emmett is Emily's husband, they're back in LA, and have a daughter for anyone not reading Freaking Out :)

"Papa? Why don't you wear makeup like Mommy and Gammy?"

Andy looked at the three year old in his lap in surprise. "What? You don't think I'm cute enough to go without makeup?"

Marie wrinkled her nose and shook her head. "Not really." There was a power outage in Emily's and Emmett's neighborhood, so they were at Sharon's and Andy's for the night.

Emily gave Marie a conspiratorial look. "I think Papa needs a makeover, what do you think?" Marie nodded enthusiastically. "I'll get my makeup bag."

Andy held his hand up. "Whoa, now, I didn't agree—"

"Yeah, right, Andy, you know you can't tell Marie 'no.'" Andy sighed, knowing he was done for. Emily gleefully returned a few moments later with her makeup bag and placed it in the recliner beside Andy. She watched as Marie carefully applied some blush to his cheek. "He needs more than that, Marie, don't you want Papa to look beautiful?" Marie nodded and happily dipped the brush back into the compact before making broader strokes across his face. "That's more like it," Emily commented.

Andy's jaw was clenched, and it took all he had not to give Emily death glares. Marie was having fun, so he didn't want to ruin that, but Emily was going to get it later. "Close your eyes, Papa," Marie instructed as she opened some eye shadow. Andy obeyed, his demeanor softening a little. The look of serious concentration on Marie's face was adorable, despite the fact that Emily was having entirely too much fun with this. He cringed when Marie reached for a tube of lipstick, but if Sharon's makeup routine was anything to go by, then he knew this was the last thing. "Do like this, Papa," Marie commanded, moving her mouth the way she'd seen Emily do when she was applying lipstick. Andy did so, and tried not to react when he realized that some had gotten on his teeth. He could tell without looking in a mirror that Marie still needed to work on staying in the lines. "All finished!" She pronounced.

Emily held back a laugh as she looked over the finished product. "Why don't you go get some of your clips from our bathroom? Papa's hair could use some work, too."

"Okay!" Marie dashed out of the room, and Andy could finally properly glare at Emily.

"Did you _have_ to do this?"

Emily gave him an innocent look. "What? Marie did this, not me."

"Yeah, you just gave her the idea," Andy muttered.

Once Marie was back in Andy's lap, she knelt on his thighs and carefully arranged a few clips in his hair. "There you go, Papa. You're a lot prettier now."

"Thank you, sweet girl." Marie giggled as Andy gave her an exaggerated, sloppy kiss and smeared lipstick across her cheek.

Sharon and Emmett came in from the kitchen, where he'd been helping her with something on her computer. "Thanks for helping me, Emme—oh. My." Sharon dissolved into giggles as she took in Andy's appearance.

"The kids, they ambushed me," Andy explained helplessly.

"The kids ambushed you?" Sharon managed to get out. "You mean a three year old and Emily?"

"That's exactly what I mean."

Emmett pulled his phone out and started snapping pictures. "Ricky and Rusty are going to die."

"Nice. Let's bring _more_ people into this," Andy muttered.

Once Sharon had her giggling under control, she leaned down and kissed Andy. "You look _beautiful_ , honey." She wiped at her mouth as she pulled away. "Hmm, you getting lipstick on me isn't a problem I ever thought we'd have."

" **I'm** **late**."

"Sharon, you have to leave in a few minutes to pick up Ricky at the airport. We have to figure this out." Andy leaned against the counter and crossed his arms. "He's a big boy, and he knows we're in a serious relationship. Do you honestly think he doesn't know I've stayed over before?"

Sharon took off her glasses and rubbed her eyes. "My guess would be that he hasn't thought about that part at all."

"I'm not trying to pressure you into something you don't want to do, but I don't see how he's any different than Rusty. Except maybe being 28 years old, and, you know, old enough for you not to have to worry about this at all." Andy wasn't surprised that she was being so deliberate about their relationship with her children, just a little annoyed.

"Oh, is _that_ how old he is? Thanks for reminding me of the age of my own child. That changes _everything_." It had been a busy couple of weeks, and Taylor had been on her ass about a shit ton of nothing for most of it, and Sharon had been in an ill mood for several days now. Ricky was coming home for a long weekend, and she wasn't sure if she wanted Andy staying overnight while he was here. He knew they had gotten more serious and seemed happy about it, but hearing about it and seeing his mom share a bed with another man for the first time in years were two very different things. To Sharon, anyway. Not so much to Andy. "Rusty has been here and was able to ease into our relationship as it evolved. The last time Ricky was here, we weren't even dating. That we were aware of, anyway. I'd rather Ricky see in person how serious we've gotten and get to know you a little better before he knows that we're, uh, doing _that_."

Andy grinned. "So, you still haven't had the 'overnight guests' talk with him?"

"As much fun as that was with Rusty, no. I'd rather have this weekend with him and all of us spend time together, and then he can draw his own conclusions, and any time he visits after this, you can stay. I just want this weekend with him before we openly share my bedroom with him here." As Sharon spoke, her intuition told her that she needed to double-check the time of Ricky's flight. He'd sent her his itinerary several weeks before, and she'd put his arrival time in the calendar on her phone then, but she was going by a text from him earlier that week for his arrival time. When she looked in her phone, she realized that he must've mistyped in his text, because his plane was landing in less than ten minutes. "Oh, my god, I'm late." She scrolled furiously through Ricky's previous texts for the screenshot of his flight confirmation, and her suspicion was correct.

Andy, on the other hand, had an entirely different brand of "I'm late" on his mind. They hadn't discussed the status of her ability to get pregnant, he'd just assumed she was past that. He looked her up and down, with a horrified expression on his face. "You're _late_?! With _what_! You're not—you can't—"

Sharon rolled her eyes. "Not _that_ kind of 'late,' Andy, Ricky gave me the wrong time. His plane is about to land." She hurriedly stepped back into her heels and headed toward the door for her keys and purse. "It's Ricky's fault, but I'd still rather not be late. Ironically, it was his fault the last time I was _any_ kind of 'late.'"

 **I know this last one was a little similar to a previous one, but I got the impression that something like this was what the person who requested the prompt wanted.**

 **Thanks for reading, I'm glad y'all are enjoying these!**


	4. Chapter 4

" **She's hiding behind the sofa."**

 **This one was hard to write, and, again, I took some liberties with the characters. :)**

After months of on-again, off-again dating, Andy had made it clear that he was getting frustrated with the state of their relationship. Sharon felt terrible, but every time they started to get serious, something in her just told her to back off. After a few days of the silent treatment from Andy outside of work, she wanted to make it right and finally commit for good. After a couple of phone calls and texts went unanswered late one Saturday afternoon, she decided to take matters into her own hands, put on a little more makeup, curled her hair, and drove to his house, new chemise in hand in case it went well. He wasn't home, so she parked down the street so he wouldn't see her car, retrieved his spare key from under a box in the garage, and let herself in. She didn't plan to wait for longer than a couple of hours, and reading at his house was better than being home by herself and driving herself crazy.

Andy came in less than an hour later, understandably baffled to find Sharon in his chair.

"What…Uh…Sharon, you've got to go."

"Andy, I know you're upset with me, but—"

"No, no, it's not that. Provenza's about to get off of the phone with Patrice, and then he's coming inside. I don't really want to have this conversation with him right now." Andy's eyes widened, and he grabbed Sharon's arm and pulled her out of the chair when he heard the door open and close again. The next few moments were chaos as Andy frantically looked around, then gently shoved Sharon behind the sofa, tossing her book and purse behind her. "Get down, I'll get rid of him," he hissed.

"You can't be serious—"

" _Please_ , just don't let him know you're here."

Sharon crouched behind the sofa, feeling much like a teenager hiding from a boyfriend's parents. In a last-minute moment of panic, Andy threw a blanket on top of her, like that would help anything. He started for the kitchen, but Provenza was already in the living room and plopped down in the chair where Sharon had just been sitting. A perplexed expression came over his face as he got a whiff of the familiar Chanel scent that had settled in the chair while Sharon was sitting there. "Okay, where is she?"

Andy feigned ignorance. "Who?"

"Don't _who_ me, I can tell she's here. You think I can't smell that woman from a mile away? What'd you do, stuff her in a closet?"

Andy stepped closer to the chair and could smell that some of Sharon's perfume had clearly lingered on the chair, and he knew there was no way out of it. "Fine. But of course I didn't stuff her in a closet, what kind of person do you think I am? She's hiding behind the sofa."

Provenza bit back a chuckle. "Oh, that's better."

Mortified, Sharon slowly rose from behind the couch, not feeling the most dignified she'd ever felt in her life. "Hi, Lieutenant," she mumbled, her cheeks flaming.

Provenza rolled his eyes. "'Idiots' doesn't even cover you two anymore, I'm going to have to downgrade you."

 **Holiday prompt—"Is that mistletoe?"**

 **The person who requested this specified that they wanted Closer era. I** **know Red Tape aired much earlier in the year than this, but I delayed it for timing purposes :)**

 **November 2009**

After a long day at work, Sharon went out for dinner with a friend from church and opened a bottle of wine when she got home. The sound of wine tinkling against the glass as she poured it always relaxed her, and she took her wine to the bathroom, intending to take a long, hot bath. She washed her face and pulled her hair up while the bathtub filled, and she released a relaxed sigh as she slowly lowered herself into the hot water. She'd just taken a long sip of wine when she heard her landline ringing. Probably a sales call, but it could also be work or one of her parents. Not many other people called her landline unless she wasn't answering her cell phone, which seemed a little backward. Work could wait for half of a second, but the possibility of her parents needing her was enough to draw her out of her bath. She groaned as she looked at the screen on the portable phone beside her bed and recognized Commander Taylor's cell number. By the time they got off of the phone and she found her cell phone, she already had a text from Andy.

 _Chief's already told me what happened, so I know you'll be at our crime scene. Don't worry, no one will know._

She'd reluctantly agreed to go out to dinner with Andy after he'd asked her a couple of times after sitting together during a seminar a few weeks before, just to get him to stop, but she'd been pleasantly surprised at how well they'd gotten along and how much she enjoyed his company. They'd been dating since then, but it wasn't serious yet. For a myriad of reasons, she was taking it slow, and his patience with that had also been a nice surprise…Wait a minute, _our_ crime scene? Oh, hell no. Sharon hadn't personally had any encounters with the commanding officer of Major Crimes, but she had heard enough. If Pope's mistress thought that a scene resulting from an officer-involved shooting belonged to anyone besides FID, then she was in for a "bless your heart."

Sharon's defenses were already up as she called her next in command and activated her own team's notification system. Dressed in what she'd worn to work, she was ready to walk out the door when she remembered that Andy would be there. Her clothes were a little wrinkled from the day, and she'd already washed her face, and she couldn't let him see her like this. Silently cursing him for being so damn good-looking, she looked through her closet for her navy trenchcoat, which she'd meant to grab on the way out, anyway, and tossed it across her bed. She felt like it conveyed a sense of being in charge, and it would also hide her rumpled clothing. Still groaning at her evening being ruined, she turned on her flattening iron to let it heat up while she applied her makeup, casting mournful glances at her glass of wine still sitting on the edge of her now-empty bath. Several minutes later, she pulled the hair tie out of her hair and brushed it out. The steam and moisture from her bath was wreaking havoc on her hair, but she managed to tame it by putting some of it up in a clip and straightening the rest.

When she arrived at the crime scene, she was pissed, but not all that surprised, to find that the sergeant in question had left the scene. Ugh, Major Crimes. They thought they were above regulations and could do whatever the hell they wanted. And usually managed to get away with it. As she was questioning Andy and his arrogant asshole of a partner, she couldn't tell if Andy's annoyance with her was sincere or for show, but there wasn't time to think about that. When Andy said something about the dead body being theirs, she decided to mess with him. "Not tonight," she said haughtily, which Andy had already heard from her more than once when he was trying advances that she wasn't ready for.

A few weeks later, Brenda's bullheadedness had earned Sharon's presence with Major Crimes yet again. Sharon stayed around as they wrapped up the case, despite the fact that her presence was no longer required, since she and Andy were going to dinner when they left. Afraid that they were going to give themselves away, Sharon busied herself with the notepad in her hand containing her notes on Major Crimes. Andy or not, Brenda's behavior and the tactics of the team in general had made her realize that the 'rules' they'd been torturing her about might need some additions. She barely noticed when Andy appeared at her side.

"So, Captain, am I crazy, or is that mistletoe above us?"

"Yes, and no, it's holly." Sharon's eyes never left her notepad. The _hell_ was he doing?!

"Hey, babe, everyone's gone for the night. It's just us."

Sharon looked up and realized he was right. She'd obviously zoned out and hadn't noticed everyone else leave. It was no surprise that no one had taken two seconds to tell her goodbye. "Oh! I didn't even notice. Well, in that case…" She tilted her chin up to allow him to kiss her. When she started to pull away after a few moments, Andy wrapped his arm around her and deepened the kiss. This was usually where other men she'd been with got faster and feverish with their motions, like they were seeing how many kisses they could squeeze into one minute, but she was pleased when Andy kept it slow. With his other hand cupped against the back of her head, he slipped his tongue into her mouth as he continued to slowly embrace her lips with his. His passion was obvious, but he kept it slow and tender.

Hungry and determined not to go too far, Sharon finally pulled away again a few minutes later. "Uh, wow…" she said lamely. _Wow_?! What the _hell_?! She might as well have said _thank_ _you_.

Andy grinned, either ignoring or unfazed by her bumbling awkwardness. "Same."

Sharon smoothed her blouse and gathered her things. "Did you know that 'mistletoe' basically translates into 'dung twig?'" Jesus christ, now she'd brought up _dung_?! Where had that even come from? It was like Andy had kissed her stupid.

Andy rolled his eyes. "You sure can ruin a moment, Raydor."

Embarrassed, Sharon leaned into him and rested against his shoulder, humming softly as he pressed a gentle kiss to her forehead. Maybe having their first long, passionate kiss under the mistletoe was a little cliche, but if anyone could sell 'cliche,' it was Andy Flynn.


	5. Chapter 5

**"My parents will love you, don't worry."**

Sharon sat on the couch one evening in early December, sipping a glass of wine and listening to Christmas music, with only the soft glow from the living room lamps and the Christmas tree for light. Andy was on his way home from a meeting, Rusty was studying at school, and she had a rare evening to herself. She'd just taken a long bath, and she was curled up with her favorite blanket and just enjoying the music and the twinkling lights of the Christmas tree. The sound of the lock turning from the door signaled Andy's arrival, and she tilted her head back against the couch, waiting for him to kiss her. He rested his hand on the top of her head as he started to lean over her from behind, but he paused over her and chuckled. "You look like a baby bird waiting to be fed, with your mouth hanging open."

"Yeah, well, now I kind of feel like one, too."

"Can't let you go hungry." Andy leaned down and warmly enveloped her lips with his own. "Hey."

"Hey." Sharon sat up a little straighter and placed her wine glass on the coffee table as he sat on the couch beside her. "I ordered our tickets for Park City today."

"Oh, right, Park City."

"Honey, there's no need to be nervous. My family will love you."

"I don't know…"

"Trust me." Sharon adjusted herself on the couch and straddled him with her knees as she kissed him with more fervor.

"You don't play fair," Andy murmured against her lips.

"Who said I did?"

"True. You know I'm not one to turn you down, but you might want to make sure Rusty's plans haven't changed. Have you heard from him tonight?"

"No, and I think my phone's still in my purse." Sharon reluctantly tore herself away from Andy and dug through her purse for her phone. "Here it is…Oh, my god. _Damn_ it."

"What?"

"Oh, _no_ , I can't believe I—"

"What?!" Andy demanded.

Sharon bit her bottom lip. "The text I sent you about those boxers I bought for you…It didn't just go to you."

" _What_?! Who—how—"

"I wasn't paying attention, and I replied to the first text where I saw your name—it was a group text with Emily, Ricky, and Rusty."

" _Oh_ _my_ _god_ is right…Um, maybe somehow they won't see—"

Sharon held up her phone. "Oh, they've seen it. All of them."

"Shit. I haven't looked at my phone in a couple of hours. You texted me as I was getting out of my car for the meeting, and I haven't gotten it out since." Andy pulled his phone out of his pocket and finally saw the responses.

 _Sharon_ : _I can't wait to see you in the new boxers I bought for you tonight! Jingle balls, indeed._

 _Emily: Ewwww, Mom, WTF?!_

 _Ricky: Mom you have GOT to stop replying to group texts when you're just trying to text Andy. This is disturbing._

 _Rusty: Ewww I saw them, but I just thought they were a gag gift for a party or something...They worked, I'm DEFINITELY gagging._

Andy couldn't help but chuckle a bit as he tapped out a response telling them to grow up, threatening to send pictures if they didn't.

"Well, I think it's safe to assume that Rusty's still staying at Gus's tonight." Sharon put her phone on the counter and resumed her position over Andy. "Where were we?"

"Talking about how your 'family is going to love me.'"

Sharon shook her head. "No, that wasn't it."

"Sharon!"

"Andy, it'll be fine. My parents will love you, don't worry. The kids just might need a little work after this."

Andy grinned. "They'll get over it. Now, where were we?"

"I was about to make your balls jingle. Speaking of which, want to put on your new boxers?"

"Sure." Andy pressed one last kiss to her lips before going to change. "Sharon. What in the _hell_ possessed you to buy these damn things? They're hideous. Where did you even find them?"

Sharon giggled as Andy came back in wearing a gaudy pair of red and green boxers with _jingle_ _balls_ written across the groin area. "I wanted to order a pair of Christmasy boxers for you, and I didn't intend to buy some tacky ones, but I couldn't pass those up."

Andy looked down at himself and the ridiculous underwear. "Hey, I'm man enough to make these look good."

Sharon gripped him through his boxers as he leaned down to pick up where they'd left off. "No arguments, here. Jingle balls, indeed."

 **"Let's go ice skating!"**

 **For those who haven't read Freaking Out, Maggie is Sharon's niece, and Kate is Sharon's sister. This is completely different from Freaking Out, I've just used the same OCs.**

Two days before Christmas Eve, Sharon woke up before dawn and was freezing. They were in Park City with the rest of her family, and she and Andy had gotten stuck with the bedroom with the worst ventilation, so it was the coldest room in the house. After pulling up the extra blanket at the foot of the bed, she snuggled into Andy and soothed her cold feet on his warm legs. She went back to sleep pretty easily and didn't wake up again until Andy was stirring beside her. She moved herself a little higher in the bed and pressed her lips to the back of his shoulder. "Hey."

"Hey." Andy rolled over and drowsily kissed her forehead. "I know it's cold when _you_ want to cuddle. And freeze me to death with your cold feet."

"You're so warm." Sharon wedged one of her legs between his and pressed herself more closely to him. Andy held her for a few more moments before starting to get up. "Where're you going?" She whined.

"It'll be warmer in the living room, and we can turn the gas logs on."

Sharon rolled her eyes. "You just want to get up because Marie's probably awake." She got out of bed and shuffled out of the room and down the hall behind Andy. Emmett and Marie were in the kitchen, and he was wiping her face and hands, obviously having just finished feeding her breakfast.

"Ba!" Marie grinned and reached for Andy when they came in. At fifteen months old, she had Emmett's smile, Emily's nose and general demeanor, and Sharon's clear green eyes, and she was 1800 different kinds of freaking adorable. The brown hair she'd had as an infant had lightened a good bit, but Emily's had done the same when she was a baby and gotten darker again as she grew up.

"Hey, wild girl." Andy lifted the toddler into his arms and settled her on his hip.

With one arm around Andy's waist, Sharon cupped the back of Marie's head with her other hand and pressed a kiss to her cheek. "Good Morning, precious."

Marie pointed out to the porch and looked expectantly at Andy. "But it's _cold_ ," Andy whined.

"Three…Two…" Sharon started counting down to Emmett in a whisper.

"All right, come on. I'll turn on the space heater."

"One," Sharon finished triumphantly.

Emmett watched Andy walk out to the porch with Marie wrapped in a blanket. "Damn, he's whipped."

"And it's only going to get worse. She can't even speak in full sentences yet." Sharon poured a cup of coffee and got some fruit out of the refrigerator. "Em still asleep?"

Emmett nodded. "I think she and Maggie spent a little too much time with Jose last night. She's going to wake up with a headache."

After breakfast, everyone went their separate ways. Some were skiing, some were shopping, and some were staying around the house. Sharon and Andy had agreed to keep Marie that afternoon so Emily and Emmett could ski, but Sharon wanted to get out of the house for the morning. She'd gotten her fill of skiing the day before, and she didn't really want to go shopping, so they were having a hard time deciding what to do. She finally had an idea. "Ooh, I know! Let's go ice skating!"

Andy looked skeptical. "Let's go _what_ now?"

"Ice skating! We can rent some skates, but the rink at the lodge will probably be crowded. There's a creek near the house that will be frozen, we can skate there."

"I don't know, I haven't done that since I was a kid."

"I haven't done it since Emily and Ricky were kids, but it'll be fun!"

A little while later, bundled up in ski bibs and coats, they made their way to the creek. Sharon picked it back up pretty quickly and was gracefully gliding across the ice after just a few minutes, but Andy was still bumbling around and just trying to stay upright. When he finally got the hang of it, he picked up speed and skated toward Sharon, but he wasn't able to stop and collided with her. As they fell to the ice, she managed to unintentionally drive her knee right between his legs, and Andy let out a high-pitched yelp and writhed on the ice in pain.

"Andy, I'm so sorry! Did I hurt you?"

" _Really_?!" Andy gasped through gritted teeth, clutching himself and letting out a pained breath. "Yeah, uh, this _kinda_ hurts."

Sharon skated to the edge of the creek, removed her skates, and put her snow boots back on before grabbing Andy's and going back to him. There wasn't much she could do for him until the pain started to subside, so she took his skates off and put his boots on his feet for him, then tied the laces of their skates together so she could carry them more easily when they were able to walk back to the house. When Andy finally felt like he could move, Sharon helped him up, and he was startled at how balanced he felt. "My skates...?"

"I put your boots on for you, did you not notice?"

Andy shook his head. "I didn't even notice I had other body parts at the time. _Why_ is your knee so sharp?!"

"I'm sorry, honey, I really didn't mean to."

"I know you didn't, but _damn_ it you have no idea how much this hurts."

Sharon rolled her eyes. "I'm sure I can imagine." She helped him back to the house, which was a short walk, although it took a bit longer than getting to the creek from the house had taken.

When they finally made it back to the house, Sharon's parents and Kate were there. Sharon's mom was the first to notice Andy's condition when they came inside. "Oh, my goodness, what happened? Are you guys okay?"

"We had a little collision on the ice," Sharon explained. "We're fine—or Andy will be after he lies down with some ice for a while." She helped Andy to the couch, and the older Marie brought them an ice pack. Sharon's dad was in the recliner with the toddler Marie and one of her books in his lap, and he watched with amusement as Andy shamelessly held the ice pack between his legs, not giving a damn who was watching.

Sharon sat beside Andy on the couch and put her hand on his shoulder, not knowing what else to do for him. "Where are Emily and Emmett?"

"I told them I'd keep Marie while you guys were gone if they wanted to go ahead and ski," Kate answered, "but Dad's been hogging her all morning."

After lunch, Andy was much better and playing on the floor of the living room with Marie when she started rubbing her eyes and whimpering. "Ga," she whined, looking around for Sharon and reaching for her when she saw her.

"Aww, I think someone's ready to go night-night." Sharon got a clean diaper and the wet wipes and changed Marie before settling in the recliner with her.

"Papa can rock just as well as Gammy, you know," Andy pouted. As obsessed as Marie was with Andy, if Sharon was in the room, then naps and bedtime were a job for Gammy.

"Will you please tell Papa to stop whining?" Sharon cooed. She gently placed Marie's head on her shoulder and patted her back as she rocked. Marie pressed her face into Sharon's neck and clutched a handful of her hair as she drifted off, warm and comfortable in her grandmother's arms.


	6. Chapter 6

**This isn't as fluffy as my other ones, but I'm wanting to do something like this in a future chapter of Freaking Out, so I'd love some feedback about what anyone likes or doesn't like. It probably won't be a Christmas scene when I do it, but I fit it in for this prompt so I could get a little feedback before I write the real chapter later. It will also be more detailed and polished than this in its final version**.

 **16—"It's snowing!"**

Sharon woke up one rainy morning in December and plugged in the Christmas tree lights before eating breakfast and settling on the couch with a blanket and a cup of coffee. She needed to clean up, finish up her Christmas shopping, and start packing for Park City, but that could wait until the next day. The rain had her not wanting to do anything but lounge on the couch and watch Hallmark movies. She was in the middle of her second predictable-but-still-addicting Christmas movie of the morning when her phone rang. Sharon turned the volume down and lazily reached for her phone. "Hi, Mom."

"Shar."

"Mom? What's the matter?"

"It's Dad. He—he's—baby, he's gone."

"Gone? Gone where?" Sharon knew what she meant, but she was already in such denial that it was going to have to be spelled out for her before she believed it.

"He never woke up this morning. I thought it was odd that he wasn't awake yet when I left to run errands, but when he was still in bed when I got home, I was calling 911 before I even got to him, but he—"

Tears filled Sharon's eyes as her mom's voice broke, and she pulled her blanket up and curled into a smaller ball on the couch, like that would somehow make this go away. Her dad had just been in the floor playing with 2-year-old Marie a couple of months ago. He was 86, but he was still in good health and got around as well as anyone she knew. "What _happened_?"

"Heart attack. They said he probably never even woke up."

Sharon talked to her mom for a little while longer and made the tearful phone calls to Emily and Ricky. Rusty had his last law school exam that afternoon, so she was going to wait until he got home to tell him. Once she was off of the phone, she turned the TV off. She knew she'd been very lucky to have her dad for as long as she had and to never have to see him suffering with poor health, but that didn't make the hurt in her heart any better. She lay on the couch and stared at the ceiling for she didn't know how long, feeling numb. Poppy, the stray dog Andy had brought home a few months ago and begged Sharon to keep, licked her hand and stood beside the couch with her face resting beside her like she realized something was wrong. She didn't know what to do with herself, and she finally pet Poppy's head and tore herself away from the couch. "Sweet girl," she murmured.

Sharon took her empty coffee cup to the kitchen and put it in the sink. Standing at the sink and just staring outside, memories came flooding back to her. She remembered being four years old, when Kate was a toddler and William was an infant. With two small children and a reasonably self-sufficient four year old, Sharon's mom didn't have the time or energy to give her the attention she wanted. Feeling resentful of her new baby brother and her sister who still required constant supervision, Sharon had been fruitlessly vying for her mom's attention all day one evening when her dad came home from work. Immediately recognizing the situation, Bill leaned down and gathered Sharon in his arms. "Come here, Shar, I need a big girl to come help me check on the tomatoes." She couldn't even remember the last time one of her parents had carried her at the time, and she remembered feeling so tall and cared for as her dad carried her outside. That became a tradition in the months after William was born. It wasn't always tomatoes, but there was always something outside that "had" to be checked. Sharon hadn't recognized it for the diversionary tactic that it was until her parents were visiting right after Ricky was born, and her dad would frequently take a jealous Emily outside because he 'needed a big girl to help him check on Mommy's flowers.' She'd forgotten about him doing that with her completely until the first time he did it with Emily.

Sharon's stomach suddenly turned on her, and she held her hair back and emptied her breakfast into the garbage disposal. As she rinsed the sour taste out of her mouth and held a cool cloth to her lips, she could practically feel her dad patting her back and his warm breath against her ear as he whispered soothingly to her. When she or one of her siblings woke up sick in the middle of the night, her dad was often the one to get up with them. " _It's all right, baby, it's just a bad burp. You'll feel a little better in just a minute."_ It had been decades since she was sick under her parents' roof, but the clear memories were hitting her hard.

Sharon longed to be a small child again for just a few minutes, for her dad to clean her up and carry her to bed and tuck her in, assuring her that everything was okay and he and Mom would take care of her. Instead, all she could do was stare out the window. Turning away meant this was real. It meant she had to cancel their tickets to Park City and book the next-available ones to Seattle. Of course, this day had to come sometime, but she'd always thought she'd have a little more warning than this. Sure, being 86 years old was something of a warning in itself, but he was healthy enough for her not to suspect that this would happen in the foreseeable future.

With some use-or-lose vacation time on his plate, Andy had worked a half day, so he came home around lunchtime. He'd forgotten to stop for the mail, so he walked to the mailbox from the garage and entered the house from the front door. The house was eerily still, and he sensed that something was wrong before he even found Sharon in the kitchen, her back to him as she stood at the sink. Poppy, affectionately named for Andy by Marie with her version of "Papa" at the time, was lying at her feet. He'd found the dog and brought her home, but Sharon was the holder of her heart. And the bacon, although Sharon had no idea Andy knew that she'd secretly feed the dog from the table. "Sharon?" She didn't waver and seemed frozen, so he slowly approached her and placed a gentle hand on her shoulder. "Everything okay?" Sharon looked up at him, her pale face with a blank expression and red-rimmed eyes holding unshed tears. "What's wrong?"

"My dad…Died this morning."

"Babe, I'm so sorry." This hadn't been expected, so Andy was full of questions, but he wordlessly pulled her into his chest and wrapped her in his arms. Sharon adored her dad and still asked him for advice sometimes, and he couldn't imagine what she was feeling. He'd lost both of his parents after long illnesses, so while he'd been sad when they died, it had been more of a relief than anything else.

Sharon had been too numb to shed more than a few tears, but she broke down once she was in Andy's arms. He bit his tongue to keep himself from instinctively saying something stupid and unhelpful like "it's okay" or "he's in a better place." It wasn't okay, he wasn't sure where he stood on the afterlife thing, and he remembered how infuriating it had been when people said shit like that to him. He'd rarely seen Sharon cry at all before, and he'd definitely never seen her cry like _this_. She usually preferred to cry in privacy when the need arose, so he was pleased that she wasn't already trying to pull away from him. He just silently held her as heart-wrenching sobs wracked her body, her shoulders shook, and she cried into his chest. He rubbed her back and ran his fingers through her hair as she coughed and hiccuped, and her sobs eventually died down to staggered breaths. Sharon finally pulled away from Andy and wiped her eyes. Her throat felt raw, and she could tell her eyes were swollen. "I've got to cancel our tickets and book—"

"I'll do that." Andy drew her closer to him again and kissed her forehead as he softly brushed some stray tears from her cheeks. "Why don't you go lie down, and I'll bring you some tea?"

"I need to pack—"

"Just see when I can get tickets first. I might be able to find some for tonight, or would you rather wait until tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow, but early. William's with Mom, and I haven't told Rusty yet. I want to wait until he gets home from his exam to tell him, and I just need some time before I go…Maybe I will lie down."

Andy filled the tea kettle with water and switched on the stove before looking through Sharon's tea collection for a calming blend. While he was waiting for the water to heat up, he followed a vague stench of vomit to the sink, where not all of it had made it down the disposal. That had likely been a result of the untimely news, so he cleaned the sink and flipped the switch for the garbage disposal without asking any questions. By the time he took the steaming mug into the living room, Sharon was curled up in the recliner and looking blankly out the window. "Thank you," she murmured as she accepted the mug.

Andy leaned down and kissed her forehead. "I'm so sorry." Her body language wasn't exactly inviting, but he didn't want to leave her alone, either, so he wasn't sure what to do. "I'll take care of our tickets." He got his laptop and sat on the floor against the recliner, not wanting to invade her space, but still wanting to be near her.

The rest of the afternoon was similarly awkward and uncertain. There was no precedent for this in their relationship so far, and Andy's desire to comfort Sharon was constantly interrupted by his recognition that she needed some space. He felt like he wasn't doing anything right, and Sharon didn't even seem sure of what she wanted from him, either, so things were tense between them by the time they went to bed that evening.

Their flight the next morning was early, and after oversleeping and rushing around to get to the airport on time, Sharon and Andy were barely speaking by the time they boarded their flight. Emily, Emmett, and Rusty were coming on a later flight. Sharon had the window seat, so she arranged her coat in the corner as a makeshift pillow and tried to go back to sleep. It was still dark outside, much like her mood. She wasn't angry with Andy, and she knew he was just trying to be there for her, but she had a lot of thoughts and emotions to sort through, and she needed to do that herself before turning to him. As the flight attendants went through the safety demonstration, her thoughts were with her dad. How upset she'd been when her first high school boyfriend broke up with her, and how her mom had had a practical "did you really think you would be with your first boyfriend forever" response, but her dad had hugged her and told her that he couldn't allow his daughter to date someone who was too stupid to see how wonderful she was. The first Christmas that she and Jack were separated, she'd made excuses for him when he wasn't with them for Christmas, but her dad had seen right through her bullshit and talked to her about it one night after everyone else had gone to bed. Her parents had never been fond of Jack, and Sharon had been afraid they'd have an "I told you so" reaction, but her dad had assured her that Jack's problems were Jack's, not hers, and that he knew she loved him and she shouldn't apologize for it. Tears filled her swollen eyes as they taxied down the runway, but she was finally able to fall asleep a few minutes later.

After an emotional afternoon with family and her parents' friends and neighbors who were still arriving with platters of food, Sharon slipped out to the porch with a glass of wine for a few minutes to herself once everyone else was starting to go to bed. Her parents' suburban neighborhood allowed for large backyards and was far enough away from the city to be peaceful, and she enjoyed the silence and stillness of the night. Andy came out a few minutes later with a blanket. "It's not as cold here as I would've thought, but I thought you might need this."

"Thank you." Sharon accepted the blanket and moved over in her chair as a silent invitation for Andy to join her.

Andy wedged himself beside her and straightened the blanket over her. "I thought it might be snowing here."

Sharon shook her head. "It doesn't snow here as much as people think it does. I doubt we'll get any." She curled into Andy and rested on his shoulder. Some of the tension was still there, but Andy knew it had a lot more to do with Sharon's emotions than with him, so he just held her in silence and followed her lead. Sharon wordlessly lay against him and sipped her wine as she stared into the backyard, and she was surprised to see soft snowflakes begin to fall. "Look, it's snowing!"

"I love snow as long as I don't have to get out in it." Andy held Sharon a little more tightly and dropped a kiss on the top of her head. "It's beautiful."

Sharon tilted her chin up and kissed Andy. "I'm sorry I've been such a pain."

"Sharon, please. I know you're hurting. I just wish I could take it away. You're fine. I'm here for whatever you need."

"Hmm." Sharon pushed her thoughts away for the time being and just enjoyed snuggling with Andy and watching the snow.

 **"For the love of god, would you put on some pants?"**

 **This is a repost—it was posted during a busy fanfic time, and I didn't want to end this little collection with a sad one.**

 **Anna is Sharon's nephew's wife who also watches Badge of Justice, and Carter is her newborn.**

 **Sharon doesn't have cardiomyopathy here—I can't give that ridiculous storyline any kind of validation.**

"I can't _believe_ that just happened." Sharon flicked the TV off in frustration. Andy was on the couch beside her with tears streaming down his cheeks. "Mike could've at least _warned_ me. What's wrong with you? You've never even liked _Badge_ _of_ _Justice_."

"I'm pretty sure he's not allowed to do that," Andy muttered as he wiped his eyes. "I _don't_ like the show, but I'm not dead inside! Randy and Dusty looked heartbroken. Everyone did. I can't _imagine_ going through that."

"I'm not dead inside, either, but that whole 'cardiomyopathy' storyline was preposterous. No one dies within weeks of a diagnosis. Sherry either faked her death or Huff just didn't give a shit about making the last season any good. I'm not getting sad over a grown man's temper tantrum and an unrealistic storyline." Angry, definitely, but not sad. Well, a little sad. Okay, fine, she'd probably have a good cry before she fell asleep later that night, but anger was the primary emotion she was feeling at the moment. "Sure, give two men heart attacks and no more problems after that, but give the little delicate woman a mild heart condition that kills her in a matter of weeks? _That_ makes sense. Are you _kidding_ me?"

Andy wrapped his arm around her and kissed the side of her head. "Yeah, well, we're both healthy and have a lot of life left to live."

"Yeah, in a world that treats women like they're disposable and don't deserve the slightest bit of logic. They never would've given a man such a bullshit storyline." Sharon leaned against Andy and gazed at the lit Christmas tree in the corner of the room. Her phone was going nuts with texts from Anna, and they furiously texted back and forth about the absurdity of the episode they both now regretted watching.

Andy sensibly refilled Sharon's wine glass, put the dinner dishes in the dishwasher, and cleaned the kitchen while Sharon and Anna engaged in their Huff roast. If he played his cards right, he could get some serious Angry Sex out of this. Not that he ever got it when the anger was directed at him, but if something else made Sharon mad, then he often reaped some pretty sweet benefits. Cleaning up would also tip the scale in his favor. He'd seen the way Sharon practically drooled over him when he washed dishes or folded laundry, and he wasn't above capitalizing on that.

"I think I'm going to FaceTime Anna. Maybe seeing Carter will put me in a better mood," Sharon commented.

No, no, no, now was _not_ the time for her to get soft. Andy sat back down on the couch and nudged her phone away before slowly gliding his tongue along the side of her neck to the sensitive spot behind her ear. "Or, we could..."

"Okay." Sharon softly placed her hand under his chin and kissed him with a fervor that made her intentions clear. She squealed as Andy lifted her into his arms and carried her to the bedroom.

Angry Sex was usually more vigorous than any other brand, but not _this_ much. Andy was surprised this time. Properly exhausted and sated, he looped his arm around Sharon and rubbed her back as she nuzzled into his chest.

A few minutes later, Sharon begrudgingly got up and went to the bathroom. Andy gave her a couple of minutes before going in behind her. "How about a bath?"

"That sounds good." Sharon washed her face as Andy started running the water and added her favorite bath oils. When the water was high enough, Sharon got in, and Andy climbed in behind her. He didn't share her love for sitting in hot water and doing nothing, but he joined her when she took a bath every now and then. Sharon released a contented sigh and relaxed against him. It didn't take long for Andy to get antsy, so he idly traced his finger along the top of her shoulder.

"Hmmm, that feels nice...Oh my _god_ , Andy, did you just draw a penis?"

Andy grinned. "Maybe."

Sharon laughed as she pulled his arms around her and placed them on her stomach. "You're impossible." She turned her head and kissed him before resting against his shoulder. "I love you."

"Love you, babe."

They got out a little while later, and Sharon put her robe on out of habit before going to the kitchen for a glass of water. She froze as she heard the lock in the door turn, and she was shocked to see Emily and Ricky coming in after Rusty. She heard Andy's footsteps coming down the hall, and despite the fact that he had no such habit of being clothed all the time even when no one else was there, her jaw was frozen and she couldn't speak. "Hey, babe, I think that bath might've geared me up for round two...Jesus Christ." Andy instinctively moved behind the couch to cover himself.

All three children were stunned into silence for a few moments, but as they connected the dots, Emily started cackling, Ricky just turned bright red and covered his face, and Rusty started whining. "Oh my _god_ , are you guys _serious_?! It's bad enough that I have to _hear_ you guys sometimes. This is just wrong."

"I'm so—I—" Sharon stammered. Her mouth was still mostly frozen, but her eyes weren't, and she had a good view of Andy from where she was standing. Between being shocked into silence and unable to tear her eyes away from Andy's naked form, speaking wasn't her strong suit. "What—why—I—for the love of _god_ , Andy, would you put on some pants?!"

Andy smiled nervously. "I'm, uh, kinda stuck here."

Sharon got a clean towel from the dryer in the laundry room and gave Andy one last look before she gave it to him. "What are you guys doing here?!" She pulled Emily and Ricky into her arms at the same time and kissed each of them on the cheek. "You were supposed to be going out for dinner and to a movie with Buzz after work!" She said to Rusty.

"Yeah, I told you that so I could go get them without you asking questions...Oh, God, I'm never coming home without giving you guys a twenty minute warning _again_. And I'm _definitely_ never coming home early again."

Sharon turned back to Emily and noticed for the first time that she was on crutches. "Honey, what happened?!"

"I sprained my ankle during a rehearsal last week, so my understudy is taking my place. I decided to take advantage of it and come home early."

"Are you all right? Why didn't you tell me?"

"I'm fine. And I knew you didn't know Ricky was coming home early, and I wanted in on the surprise. I found a flight that landed an hour before Ricky's, and I waited so Rusty could pick us up at the same time."

"And I had some vacation time I was going to lose if I didn't take some extra days off, so I went ahead and came home," Ricky added, with a look of disgust still on his face. "But I'm starting to think I would've rathered lose the vacation."

"I'm sorry, honey, but I'm so glad you're both here! Not that you're hurt, Em, but I'm happy we'll have some time here together before we go to Park City."

Emily was still laughing about the horrified expressions on Ricky's and Rusty's faces. "Hey, seeing the looks on their faces just now was _well_ worth the sprained ankle."

Later that night, with Emily unconscious on the couch and Ricky and Rusty blowing up the air mattress for Ricky, Sharon and Andy made an early escape to bed. Andy was kissing her like they hadn't just had sex a couple of hours ago, and Sharon pulled away from him. "I thought you were kidding about 'round two.' I think the kids have been traumatized enough for one day."

Andy shrugged. "Who said round two had to make as much noise or have as many participants?"

Sharon propped herself up against a couple of pillows and adjusted her nightgown. "Well then, by all means, Lieutenant, please proceed."


	7. Chapter 7

**This takes place in the days before Andy asks Sharon out to Serve. It's a response to a tumblr request for "fight," and also to a request from the lovely and always-faithful reader welshcwtch for Sharon to be angry with Andy and get back at him by flirting with someone else. I'm so sorry it took me so long!**

 **These are for fun. I've taken some liberties with characterization.**

 **Freaking Out is still in the works, but motivation for it has waned recently, for a variety of reasons. I'm trying to make myself get back into it :)**

One Saturday afternoon, Sharon stood in her closet, trying to find something to wear. Andy had been dying to take her to play golf and had ignored her when she tried to tell him she didn't want to, and she'd finally run out of excuses not to go. She'd never had any interest in it and had no desire to learn to play, but she finally decided that one wasted afternoon would be worth it, as it would probably keep him quiet about it for a while. It had been a difficult week, and she just wanted to curl up on the couch with her book. Golf was the last thing she was in the mood for, but she'd agreed to it over a week ago, and she didn't want to back out if she really didn't have to.

Andy had arrived a few minutes ago, and she heard him calling for her from the doorway to her bedroom. "You can come in."

He stepped into Sharon's closet behind her and put his hand on her shoulder. "You're still not dressed?"

Sharon held up her phone displaying the country club's website in frustration. "This dress code is ridiculous. I don't have many "appropriate" things that are comfortable."

"It can't be that hard. You don't have khakis and a polo?"

"When have you _ever_ seen me wear khakis or a polo? I don't think I've owned khaki pants or a skirt since about 2005, and I've never liked the way polos look on me."

"I beg to differ."

Sharon rolled her eyes. "You've never even _seen_ me in a polo."

"I don't have to." Andy started sorting through Sharon's clothes. "You own more clothes than anyone I've ever known, you have to have _something_."

"Why do they care what I wear, anyway? This is insane." Sharon finally settled on white pants, which she'd rather not wear on a golf course, but they were her most comfortable option, and a blouse.

By the sixth hole, Sharon's bad mood had turned sour, and Andy was grating on her last nerve. She was hopelessly terrible at golf, and even though she didn't care about the game, she was still annoyed that she wasn't good at it. Andy correcting every move she made wasn't helping a damn thing, either. He was being nice and patient about it, but she still bristled every time he opened his mouth. She should've known this wasn't a good idea today. She'd been in an ill mood because of work for the last couple of days, anyway, and anyone trying to teach her something always had the potential to annoy her.

"Hold on, stand like this." Andy placed his hands on her hips and gently adjusted her position to the ball. It felt so unnatural, and it was difficult for her to get the stance right the first time. "Keep your head down," he instructed before she'd even started to swing.

Sharon turned around and held up the golf club. "For the love of _god_ , Andy, if you tell me to keep my head down one more time, then I'll be aiming for a different hole with this thing."

"Sharon, no one becomes a pro their first try—"

"Whatever." Sharon had no idea what possessed her, but she got on the golf cart and drove back to the clubhouse, leaving Andy to walk six holes back. After returning the golf cart, she went inside and sat at the bar. She was startled when someone came up behind her and placed a hand on her shoulder. Andy hadn't had nearly enough time to walk back. "Can I get you a drink?"

"Wha—Thomas!" Sharon stood up and gave him a hug. He was a former DA and an old flame of Gavin's. Sharon was pretty sure she had been more heartbroken than Thomas _or_ Gavin when they broke up. "You read my mind. A glass of cabernet would be great."

"That I can do." Thomas patted her leg as he ordered drinks for both of them. Sharon knew he wasn't even remotely interested in women and was just a touchy-feely person, so it didn't bother her. Their drinks disappeared pretty quickly as they caught up, and Sharon was starting to wonder where Andy was when Thomas ordered them each a second drink.

"I was using the last of that bottle, so this glass is a little tall," the bartender apologized.

"No complaints, here." Sharon thanked him and took a long sip.

"So, where is this lieutenant who has managed to win your heart?" Thomas asked.

"He hasn't won shit _yet_ ," Sharon mumbled. "He won't make up his damn mind about what he wants from me. He acts like we're dating, and then he chickens out and takes two steps back. My son had to point out that we were 'dating' in the first place. I'm all for taking it slow, but I'm not even sure that there's an 'it' here at all."

"Well, he's an idiot if he hasn't taken you off of the market yet."

Sharon rolled her eyes. "You're so full of crap."

Thomas shrugged. "That's usually a safe assumption, but not on this one. You, my dear, are proof that being gay isn't a choice, otherwise you would be turning me down for the millionth time as we speak."

Meanwhile, Andy had taken the scenic route back and had walked slowly, trying to figure out what the hell had just happened and what to do about it. Sharon wasn't at the car, so he went to the clubhouse and looked around. He knew where to go when he heard a familiar laugh from the bar. He was taken aback to find Sharon talking with a younger, good-looking man who looked a little too comfortable touching her leg.

Sharon spotted Andy out of the corner of her eye, and her frustration with the afternoon and the fact that Andy had been dragging his feet about their relationship in general lately got the better of her. She took a long sip of wine and leaned a little closer to Thomas and returned his touches. Hell, she and Andy weren't serious enough for her to assume they were exclusive, and Andy didn't know that Thomas had no interest in women, so she was going to let him sweat it for a few minutes. "Hey, do me a favor and go along with me, okay?" Sharon whispered in Thomas's ear.

"The _hell_ is going on, here?" Andy appeared behind them, his face turning red and his jaw clenched.

Sharon feigned surprise and guilt. "Oh, hey, Andy, this is Thomas. He used to work at the DA's office."

"You left me to walk six holes on the golf course to come back here and see someone else?"

"I didn't know he was here," Sharon explained. She bit back a laugh as Thomas shot her an approving _I'd tap that_ look. "He's, uh, just an old friend."

Andy tried to cool down and offered his hand to Thomas. "Andy Flynn. Nice to meet you." He turned to Sharon. "You ready to go?"

"Give me a few minutes to finish my drink."

"Okay, uh, I'll go get the car."

Sharon chatted with Thomas for a few more minutes and finished her drink. "Thanks for the drinks, Thomas, it was great to see you again."

Thomas leaned over and gave her a quick hug. "It's always great to see you. Hope you guys work it out."

"I'm sure we will. Thanks."

Most of the ride back to Sharon's condo was quiet. Sharon knew that she hadn't exactly pushed the relationship forward, either, but she still wasn't exactly sure whether Andy wanted a serious relationship or just someone to do things with occasionally and to take to weddings or events when he wanted his family to see him with her.

"So, uh, what was that about?" Andy finally asked.

"Don't worry, Andy, I'm not his type."

"What, he prefers blonds?"

Sharon rolled her eyes. "He and _Gavin_ dated a few years ago, and I spent a lot of time with them."

"So you pretended to flirt with him to hurt me, or…"

Sharon shook her head. "I'm sorry. I just…Where _are_ we, Andy? If someone asked me out on a date, I would honestly feel free to go. We've had some kind of bizarre unspoken agreement that we're sort-of dating, but nothing has changed. We're still acting like we're friends."

"Yeah, but I thought you wanted to take it slow."

"The _relationship_ , Andy, I want to take the _relationship_ slow. But I honestly don't feel like I'm in one at all. We'll go out, but then sometimes it's like you freak out and we'll go days at a time where I wouldn't see or talk to you if it weren't for work. I'm ready to officially date if you are, but I'm done being someone you 'date' when it's convenient for you and don't date when you're afraid to commit."

Andy was pulling up to Sharon's condo by then. "So, what now? I take it you don't want to go out to dinner?"

"I think we both need a couple of days to think things through, but the ball's in your court. You know how I feel about you, but I'm not sure how you feel about me. I don't even know that _you're_ sure how you feel about me."

A few days later, they had just wrapped a case, and Sharon was looking forward to going home and taking a long bath with a large glass of wine. She and Andy had been busy with the case and had managed to get through it without their argument getting in the way. Sharon had spent Saturday evening on the balcony with Andrea and a bottle of wine venting about it, and Andrea had given her some much-needed perspective. There was no need to even rush the existence of their relationship, and most of the time, Sharon was okay with the yes, no, stop, go status. The case had also reminded her that with them working together, they didn't need to begin a relationship until they were both absolutely sure that it was what they wanted. Which is why Sharon was surprised to come out of her office and be stopped by Andy. At first glance, it seemed that he had just asked her to go to dinner the next evening, which they'd done many times before, although there was never usually much planning. The word "romantic" threw her off, though. "Romantic?" She clarified.

Andy nodded. "Well, uh, that's how it's described."

"Oh, I see…" It was Sharon's turn to fumble for words as she tried to think quickly. "Um, uh, fine." She didn't miss the look of shock on Andy's face, and she needed to get the hell out of there before this got any more awkward. "Um, where's Hobbs?"

It took Andy a moment to find his voice. "She's in Interview One, I think."

Sharon turned away from him before he could see her grinning like an idiot, and she was still mouthing _oh my god_ when she found Andrea.

 **This prompt was for a minor health emergency for Andy. I got the inspiration for the health emergency from a Golden Girls episode, although it's a little more severe here (but still okay).**

Sharon was starting dinner one evening and listening to music, and she barely heard Andy come in from work. He wrapped his arms around her from behind and started singing along to the music. " _Get with it, baby, 'cause you're fine and you're mine and you look so divi-ine. Come and get your love_ …"

"You don't have to tell me twice." Sharon turned her head to kiss him.

Andy pressed his lips to hers for a few moments before turning away and looking through the medicine cabinet. "Are we out of those Pepto Bismol caplets?"

"Yeah, I gave Rusty the last two last night, why?"

"My stomach's kind of bothering me. I don't feel sick, it's just kind of annoying."

Sharon finished getting dinner together and put it in the oven. "I'll run out and get some more."

"No, I can go—"

"I'll get it." Sharon gently pushed Andy toward the living room. "Why don't you lie down until dinner's ready?"

"Yeah, I think I will."

Sharon went to a nearby pharmacy and brought Andy a glass of water and the medicine when she got back. She sat on the couch beside him and ran her hand through his hair. "Where does it hurt?"

"It doesn't really hurt. This happened a couple of nights ago, and the medicine cleared it right up. It's probably just indigestion or something."

"All right. Dinner will be ready soon."

After dinner, Sharon sat on the porch with a glass of wine and FaceTimed Emily just to watch nearly-eleven-month-old Marie toddle around until Emily finally ended the call to put her to bed. She'd been walking, albeit unsteadily, for a couple of weeks now. Emily had been an early walker, too. Her sister called after that, and after they talked for a while, Sharon went inside to get ready for bed. With Rusty locked in his room studying, she was hoping for some quality time with Andy, but he was already in bed and looked like "quality time" was the last thing on his mind. She hopped into bed beside him. "What happened to 'come and get your love?'"

"It'll have to wait a couple of days," Andy muttered.

"What's the matter?" Sharon looked him over. He hadn't eaten much dinner, if any at all, but the medicine hadn't had much time to kick in then, and she'd figured he would go back for more after his stomach settled a little. "Do you feel sick?"

"I'm starting to. Julio was out yesterday because Mark had a stomach bug, and I was around him a good bit the day before. I'm afraid I caught it from him. Earlier, I really just thought it was nothing, or I wouldn't have kissed you."

"Honey. It would take more than the threat of a little stomach bug to keep me from kissing you, I can promise you that." Sharon pecked him on the lips. "But I believe this means that your and Rusty's cracks about how my cooking has caused a depletion of Pepto Bismol were _completely_ uncalled for." Before she retired, she and Andy either took turns making dinner, cooked together, or got take-out, but she'd been cooking herself more often since she was usually already home early in the evenings. Rusty cooked every now and then, too. And, despite Andy's and Rusty's dramatics, she'd never caused any of them any digestive trauma. "Can I get you anything?" Andy shook his head. "Wake me up tonight if you start feeling worse, or if you need something." She gently nudged him over in the bed. "Sleep on my side tonight, it's closer to the bathroom."

By the time Andy fell asleep, Sharon wasn't quite ready for bed, so she got another glass of wine and read on the porch for a while. Having a sick husband, especially with Andy's medical history, was a bit like having a sick child, and she looked in on him occasionally until she was ready to go to bed. After making sure the path to the bathroom was clear and putting a glass of water on the nightstand beside him, she crawled under the covers. The sheets smelled vaguely of Andy, and the familiar comfort of his scent lulled her to sleep. Yeah, they were going to have to trade sides of the bed more often.

Sharon woke up a few hours later to go to the bathroom, and she could tell Andy was sitting up in bed beside her. She turned a lamp on and turned to him, a little disoriented from being on the wrong side of the bed. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing." Andy winced and held his hand to the upper right part of his stomach.

Sharon quickly went to the bathroom, wrinkling her nose at the faint smell of vomit, and got back in bed. "It doesn't look like _nothing_ , it looks like you're hurting. Have you gotten sick? Is your stomach upset?" Andy nodded. He knew she already knew the answer to that question. "And you didn't wake me because…"

"I know this is hard for you to believe, but it's possible for people in this house to vomit without you standing over them."

"Cut the crap, Andy, and tell me what's wrong."

"Just a little pain. I'm sure it'll go away. It's not low enough to be appendicitis, and it's completely the wrong side to be my heart," he quickly assured her. He felt like he was being stabbed in the stomach and his back, but he couldn't bring himself to tell her that. He was certain it wasn't his heart, otherwise he would've woken Sharon up a while ago, and he wanted to give the pain some time to go away before he did anything about it.

Sharon raised her eyebrows. "Not every heart attack or case of appendicitis is textbook, Andy, this could possibly be either one." She kissed his forehead and held the back of her hand to his cheek. "You have a bit of a fever. Something's not right. I'm taking you to the ER."

Andy shook his head. "I'd rather slam my balls in a car door." He'd had more than enough of hospitals in the last few years, both as a patient and a visitor.

"I'm sure I can arrange that, but we're going to the hospital first."

"Sharon, I know Rusty's and my hospital stints have spooked you—"

"'Spooked' implies that my concern is unfounded, which is absolutely not the case." Sharon reached over Andy to get his phone and scrolled through his contacts for his doctor's office. "I'll call the on-call doctor in your doctor's office and see what they say. If you're so sure it's nothing, I'm sure they'll agree." She disconnected her call a few minutes later and threw on some sweatpants and a long-sleeved t-shirt over her nightgown. "We have to go to the ER…Andrew Flynn, you get your ass out of that bed this second," Sharon ordered when Andy didn't move.

"Such great bedside manner," Andy grumbled.

Sharon's expression softened. "I'm sorry, honey, but I'm worried, and I'm a little concerned that you're _not_ worried." She slipped into a pair of sandals and helped Andy out of bed. "Your shoes are by the door. Let's go."

"In my pajamas?"

"You'll just have to change into a gown, anyway." Sharon wrapped her arm around his waist and led him to the kitchen. She grabbed his wallet, her purse, and his flip-flops by the door and helped him to the car.

When they got to the hospital, Sharon helped Andy inside and to a seat before going to sign him in. After explaining the problem and some of Andy's medical history, she was infuriated by the inaction of the woman behind the desk. " _Excuse_ me, but my husband needs to be seen _now_."

"Ma'am, you'll need to fill out—"

" _Ma'am_ , _you_ need to find someone who doesn't need help with the word _immediately_." Sharon flashed Andy's badge that she barely remembered grabbing on the way out the door. "You don't want me to have to repeat myself, I can assure you."

"One moment, please."

"Yes, that's what I thought. Thank you."

A little while later, it was determined that Andy needed to have his gallbladder taken out. Sharon kissed his forehead before going to the waiting room. "I love you. I'll be here when you wake up." She pointed at the nearest person to her, having no idea whether they were a doctor or nurse or orderly or what. "He _better_ wake up."

A few hours later, Andy startled awake and couldn't figure out where he was at first. He finally realized he was in the hospital, and the memory of having to have surgery came back to him. He remembered waking up in recovery and struggling to stay awake long enough for them to move him to a regular room so he could see Sharon, but he'd fallen asleep again while they were moving him there. He felt a soft hand encasing his, and he looked over to see Sharon sleeping in a chair right beside his bed with only the t-shirt he'd been wearing for a pillow. Damn, she had to be uncomfortable in that thing.

A couple of minutes later, a pressing need made itself known, and he begrudgingly called for a nurse. He doubted he could get out of bed by himself, and he'd been in the hospital enough recently to know that the nurses wouldn't want him out of bed by himself at this point.

Sharon's eyes fluttered when she sensed Andy stirring beside her, and she sat up and rubbed the back of her neck. "Hey, how're you feeling?"

"Not so bad…They didn't give me any…"

"Narcotics? No. You still have a local anesthetic, and they'll give you another one and some milder pain medicine before you leave the hospital. You okay?"

"Yeah…I just, uh, need to get to the bathroom. I called for a nurse, but I don't think I can wait much longer."

Sharon looked around for the receptacle the nurse had pointed out to her if this problem came up. "I can help you with this, or I can help you walk to the bathroom. I guess I'm better than you trying to go by yourself."

Andy shook his head. "I'm not using that thing, and you're not coming to the bathroom with me, either."

Sharon smoothed her hand over his cheek. "Well, if you really can't wait, then I don't see what other choice you have. Since when are you so shy about peeing in front of me, anyway?" That wasn't anything she'd ever thought about doing in front of him, but he never thought anything about waltzing into the bathroom and taking care of business when she was in there doing something else.

"It's not, uh, just pee," Andy mumbled.

Sharon nodded in understanding. "That's okay, I really don't mind. I'm sure the nurse won't be long. I'll help you get there, and then I'll come back out here when the nurse gets here."

"Sure, let's bring _more_ people into this," Andy grumbled. Sharon was right, it was his only option, so he reluctantly let her help him out of bed. A nurse mercifully arrived as they reached the bathroom, so he took over, and Sharon gratefully retreated back into the room.

Once Andy was back in bed and had been examined by the nurse, he looked over at Sharon. "I know my gallbladder had to be removed because of gallstones blocking it or something, but I'm a little fuzzy on the details. What caused it?"

"They're not sure," Sharon answered. "Any risk factors you would've had for it, you took care of years ago. They've run a few tests to rule out some things, but it's possible that your gallbladder was just inefficient and allowed gallstones to build up. This just happens sometimes without much of an explanation."

"Nice…When can I go home?"

"Probably this evening, but tomorrow at the latest." Sharon ran her hand over his forehead. "Your fever's about gone, that's good…I'm sorry about last night. Or this morning, rather. I'm not the most pleasant person when I'm afraid for someone I love. I guess I woke up on the wrong side of the bed."

Andy nodded. "Literally. Speaking of which, we're going to have to switch sides of the bed more often."

Sharon smiled. "I was thinking the same thing." She leaned down and kissed his forehead. "I love you. I'm so glad you're okay."


	8. Chapter 8

**Last two tumblr prompts. Thanks for reading, and I really appreciate everyone who has let me know they're reading this!**

 **03–"drunk"**

"Jesus, why does everyone in LA suddenly forget how to drive when there's a little rain?" Ricky complained. It was the Friday before Memorial Day, and Sharon had picked him up from the airport for the long weekend. The drive home had already taken thirty minutes longer than it should have, and they were still ten minutes away.

"I know, right?" Sharon gripped the steering wheel, trying her best to keep her road rage at bay. "They suddenly forget what the left lane is for, too… _Move_ , Grandma, this isn't a Sunday afternoon stroll!"

"Your road rage always cracks me up…Did you get some beer, or do we need to stop? I'm sure I'll be ready for one by the time we get home."

"I bought plenty. I could go straight to the porch with a glass of wine, myself." When they got home, Sharon was excited to see that Emily had arrived. She and Emmett had bought their own house not long ago, and she still wasn't used to not seeing Marie every day. She was almost nine months old now and seemingly getting bigger by the day. By the time Sharon pulled into the driveway, Ricky was forgotten as she rushed into the house, eager to see her granddaughter.

"Don't worry, Mom, you barely missed my nose when you slammed the door in my face," Ricky commented as he walked in the kitchen behind her. Emily was pouring a glass of wine with an eye on Marie as she crawled around the kitchen.

"Hey, my darling girl!" Sharon exclaimed, ignoring Ricky. Marie's face broke into a grin, her pacifier hitting the floor as she held her arms up for her. Sharon scooped her up and kissed the side of her head. "It's been so long since I've seen you!"

Emily rolled her eyes. "It's been three _days_ since you've seen her. You did get a paci drop, though, _that's_ serious." Marie had mastered the art of holding on to her paci with the few teeth she had when she smiled not long ago, so smiles large enough to lose the paci were few and far between these days.

Sharon nodded. "The height of all compliments."

"How about letting someone who hasn't _actually_ seen her in a long time hold her?" Ricky took Marie from her, and she looked back at Sharon, her face starting to crumple. "Oh, no ma'am, no crying. You're going to have to get over this 'attachment to Gammy' thing."

"Just wait until Andy gets home. She'll have no idea the rest of us are around." Sharon got a bottle of beer out of the refrigerator for Ricky and poured a glass of wine for herself. "Where's Emmett?"

Emily sipped her wine. "His meeting in New York ran late, and he missed his flight. He couldn't get another one until tomorrow. I'm just going to spend the night here instead of dragging Marie and her crap back and forth. What are we doing for dinner?"

"Andy's bringing pizza home. He shouldn't be too much longer."

Rusty shuffled in from the living room, barefoot and wearing sweatpants and a rumpled t-shirt. "Some people are trying to nap in here," he complained.

"Oh, sorry, Grandpa, didn't mean to disturb your rest," Ricky retorted.

"What else are you supposed to do when it's raining?" Rusty shot back.

Ricky shrugged. "Yeah, I'll give you that. Let's go sit on the porch. It feels amazing outside."

When Andy got home, he got some paper plates and napkins out of the pantry and followed the music and loud chatter to the porch. He put the pizza on the long table in front of the chairs and squeezed into Sharon's chair beside her. "Hey."

"Hey." Sharon titled her chin up for him to kiss her. "How was your day?"

"Fine. Kind of boring, we've been slow lately. I guess that's a good thing. Hey, Ricky, did you have a good trip?"

Ricky shrugged. "I could've done without the screaming baby, but Mom's road rage on the way home was worth it."

"Ahh, yes, your mom's vocabulary tends to get a little colorful when she has to deal with other drivers in the rain." Marie struggled to get down from Ricky's lap and crawled over to Andy. "There's my girl!" Andy picked her up and settled her on his knees. "Papa has missed you this week! You guys go ahead and eat, I'll watch the little munchkin."

A little while later, Emily was nearing the end of her third glass of wine when Marie started showing signs of getting ready for bed. "I'm going to warm up a bottle for her. She'll get shit-faced if I feed her now, I'll just have to pump and dump later."

Ricky wrinkled his nose. " _Gross_ , Em, god! I could've survived never hearing that."

Rusty rolled his eyes. "I've heard _way_ too much to get grossed out by crap like that anymore. I think she tries to make us vomit on purpose."

"Oh, grow up." Emily started to get up, but Andy stopped her.

"I've got it, I haven't put her to bed in a while." Andy stood up with Marie in his arms and carried her inside.

"Thanks, Andy. I gave her a bath earlier today, so you can just put her pajamas on and feed her. There's a gown and a clean diaper on our bed, and there's a bottle in the fridge. A bottle I _pumped_ ," Emily emphasized, giving Ricky an evil look. A few minutes later, she refilled her glass from the bottle Sharon had brought outside for more convenient access. "Good thing Emmett's not here tonight. The last time I drank this much, we ended up with Marie. Emmett had to travel a lot that month, and we both had a lot going on, so I know exactly when it happened."

Rusty gave Ricky a knowing look. "Told you."

" _Please_ , Emily, feel free to share," Ricky muttered.

"That's funny, because I was just thinking that this song reminds me of Ricky," Sharon said, the wine obviously hitting her. The music and the sound of the heavy rain had made it go down a little too easily. She was a glass ahead of Emily, and she nodded at the speaker as she sipped her wine. "It was actually a night just like this. We put you to bed early, and it was pouring rain outside, so we took a couple of bottles of wine out to the porch. This song came on after we'd each had a few glasses, and…" Sharon shrugged, smiling at the memory.

 _She's got a fine sense of humor when I'm feeling low down Yeah I come to her when the sun goes down Take away my trouble, take away my grief Take away my heartache, in the night like a thief She gives me love, love, love, love, crazy love…_

Ricky looked horrified. "Oh, my _god_ , Mom, you're cut off."

Sharon gave him an innocent look. "What? Where do you think you came from, the stork?"

"No, but that doesn't mean I want to _hear_ about it!"

"Emmett and I would probably have chosen a different song for our reception if I had known _that_ ," Emily agreed. She looked up as Andy came outside. "That was fast."

Andy nodded. "She barely finished her bottle before she fell asleep. She's out. What did I miss?"

"Mom being disgusting," Ricky supplied. "I'm going to need more beer for this, but no more wine for Mom."

Sharon laced her fingers through Andy's as he sat in the swing beside her. "He just found out the significance of this song."

Andy grinned. He couldn't remember how it had come up, but he remembered Sharon telling him about it. "Now that's just mean. Why would you ruin a perfectly good song for him?"

"Ooh, what about me?" Emily asked. She wasn't much more thrilled than Ricky or Rusty with the direction the conversation had taken, but seeing them so grossed out was worth it.

Sharon shook her head. "Oh, no. You're _far_ too young to hear _that_ one."

"Too _young_?! I'm 35 and have a child of my own!"

Sharon shrugged. "Maybe when you're 50."

"I don't know whether to be relieved not to hear another story or even more disgusted," Ricky huffed.

A couple of hours later, Andy was ready to call it a night, and the looks he'd been getting from Sharon indicated that she had the same thing on her mind that he did. A house full of her children would usually make her a little hesitant, but he knew she couldn't pass up a rainy night, especially after a few glasses of wine. "I'm going to bed," Andy murmured against her hair. "You coming?"

Sharon nodded. "I'm right behind you." She finished her glass of wine and followed Andy inside after telling everyone goodnight. The wine had left her mind a little foggy and her movements a little clumsy, but she finally left the bathroom and made sure their bedroom door was locked before jumping onto the bed beside Andy. The rare times she drank a little too much always made her more vigorous in bed, and Andy wasn't complaining. He was gently covering her mouth with his hand by the end, as a reminder that her kids were still on the porch and probably coming in and out of the house, and they were both giggling like teenagers. They finally calmed down, and Sharon lay against Andy, idly tracing her fingers along his chest. "I'm going to be hurting tomorrow, but that was absolutely worth it."

Andy kissed the top of her head. "Don't look at me. That was all you."

 **" _Hurt/_** ** _comfort ask 2? I've seen a few fics mention Sharon having pneumonia after the blast in Shockwave, but it was always after the fact and didn't really get into it. I'd love a detailed snippet of that :)_ "**

 **My next story (if I ever finish Freaking Out) is going to start when Emily and Ricky are young and go straight through TC/MC (minus the nonexistent season), and I was planning to do something like this then, so here's a rough draft. I haven't watched MC since the event that didn't happen, and I only saw the Shockwave episodes a couple of times, so I probably botched up some of the timing. I also can't remember whether Sharon was at the first scene, but for purposes of this story, she was. This will be more detailed, less rushed-through, and more accurate when I get to it in my next story (I'm going to make myself rewatch MC before my next story, so no "corrections" are needed at this time :)) And sorry for the recent fluff overload.**

Sharon groaned as she woke up to her phone ringing early one Monday morning. "Raydor," she gasped between coughs. She'd had something she suspected was bronchitis or something like it the week before, but she'd started feeling a little better after a couple of days, so she hadn't bothered to go to the doctor. She was still tired and had a lingering cough, which she'd hoped spending the weekend on the couch would fix, but it was only slightly better. She was informed that they'd been rolled out, and Andy was awake by the time she ended the call.

"The hell?" He muttered.

"Crime scene. We need to get dressed and go."

Andy gave Sharon an appraising look. "Do you feel up for this?"

Sharon shrugged. "Doesn't matter. You can't go without me, and it sounds like they need all hands on deck. We can't both stay home." She'd planned to go back to work today, but a crack-of-dawn rollout hadn't been part of that plan.

A couple of weeks later, they finally wrapped the case. The smoke inhalation from the recent bombs and the late nights from the case had made Sharon's lingering cough worse, and her sore ribs from the explosion made it more difficult for her to do so. She'd been told when they all got checked out at the hospital after the explosion to take a few days off to rest and to follow up with her primary care physician if she didn't start to improve after a couple of days, but she'd already planned to do the same. She'd only disobeyed once long enough to attend a Captain's Meeting and to go up to the ninth floor to see the aftermath of the explosion for herself, which had been worth it when Fritz told her she was being promoted to Commander.

Sharon started running a fever again a couple of days later and was gradually getting worse, and she called her doctor's office the next day to schedule an appointment. When Andy came home from work that day, he could hear the shower running when he went to the bedroom to change clothes. He started dinner and replaced the rumpled linens tucked into the couch with fresh sheets and blankets before going to check on Sharon. She loved a long shower, especially when she wasn't feeling well, but when it had been a while even for her, Andy peeked into the bathroom. The shower was fogged up, but he could see the outline of Sharon's body sitting against the edge. He got undressed again and tapped gently on the shower door before slowly opening it. She didn't move as he closed the door again and lowered himself to sit beside her. "Hey, you okay? You've been in here for a while."

Sharon dropped her head to his shoulder as he held her close to his side. "This is the best I've felt in over a week." She tilted her head up to kiss him before returning her head to his shoulder. "Don't worry, I made a doctor's appointment for tomorrow morning."

Andy nodded. He'd been trying to talk her into it since she'd started running a fever again. "The steam probably _is_ doing you some good. If you're still feeling really bad in the morning, I can take you to your appointment."

"Hmm."

"How long have you been in here?" Andy grabbed a washcloth and held it in front of her face when she started coughing. The necessity for _that_ had also been a new development in the last couple of days.

"Don't know." Sharon grasped Andy's arm and started to stand up.

"Hold on, I'll get a towel for you and help you up." It was odd that she'd gotten in the shower without placing a towel nearby, but that wasn't his only clue that she felt like crap.

"Still have conditioner in my hair. Had to take a break."

"I think I can take care of that." Andy threw the contaminated cloth in the garbage and got a clean one, then got back in the shower and adjusted himself and Sharon to sit between his legs. He ran his fingers through her hair as the water continued to fall on them. He quickly realized that the change of position wasn't the best move and had to force himself to think of other things as he rinsed her hair out. His mind was on helping his sick fiancé and nothing more, but the appendage that was now pressed against soft, wet skin unfortunately had a one-tracked mind of its own. "Anything else you wanted to do in here?"

"Body wash." Sharon hugged her legs and pressed her forehead against her knees as Andy put some soap on a washcloth and started running it over her body. Her whole body felt heavy and achy, and her throat and chest hurt from coughing. The hot water and Andy's tender motions made her feel a little better. The water was starting to turn cold by the time Andy rinsed her off, so he got a towel and some fresh pajamas for her before turning off the shower. Sharon shivered as she stepped onto the bath mat, so he quickly dried her off and gave her the towel to wrap around her hair. Her silence and lack of struggle while he was helping her concerned him. He knew she had to be miserable, and she hadn't seemed to feel so bad the day before.

"You could've texted me when you started feeling so bad," Andy commented as he pulled a sweatshirt over her head. "I told you I'd come home if you needed me to."

"I didn't realize I felt so bad until I got in the shower and was too tired to finish it," Sharon admitted. Once she was dressed, she sank into the couch, where she'd spent the better part of the week. She gave Andy a grateful look as she curled up under the fresh sheets. "Thanks, Andy, those other sheets were starting to feel a little gross."

"You're welcome. I'll make you some tea, do you need anything else?" Sharon shook her head. Andy brushed his fingers over her forehead. "I think your fever's higher than it was this morning."

"It's normal for it to go up late in the afternoon." Sharon gave Andy's hand a reassuring squeeze. "Don't worry, I'll be all right."

Early the next morning, before dawn, Sharon woke up with a coughing fit and moved to the living room before she could wake Andy. It was always worse in the morning from lying down all night. Andy had propped a couple of pillows under her to give her a little elevation, but that hadn't helped much. Rusty was in the kitchen getting a glass of water, intending to go back to bed, but Sharon was coughing worse than he'd ever heard her before. "Mom, you okay?"

Sharon accepted his glass of water and took a few slow sips before trying to clear her lungs again, unable to catch her breath to answer him. It hurt her ribs to cough too hard, and the gunk in her lungs required more force to come up than she was able to give.

Rusty got another glass of water and turned back to Sharon. "Mom, your lips are like, blue."

Sharon was gasping for breath as she coughed, and she wasn't able to get a deep breath. She felt like she couldn't breathe, although she was doing so on some level, and she started to panic. "Call—9–-1—1," she managed to gasp out.

Rusty froze for a moment, but he grabbed the nearest landline and dialed with trembling fingers. He quickly made the call and followed the instructions Sharon had given him when Andy's health problems started in case he ever needed to call 911 for him. "I'll go wake Andy up really quick." He made his way to their room, hands still shaking, and shook his shoulder. "Andy, wake up!" He hissed.

Andy moved his hand to Rusty's and gently stroked his fingers back and forth without opening his eyes. In his drowsy state, he'd forgotten Sharon was sick and mistook Rusty's urgency for one of Sharon's occasional middle-of-the-night raspy pleas for him to wake up to satisfy a different kind of urgency. "Hmmm, need some lov—"

" _Ewww_ , Andy, do _not_ finish that sentence. I'm _not_ Mom…But you have to get up. She's really sick, I just called 911."

" _What_?!" Andy jumped out of bed and practically sprinted into the kitchen.

Rusty was relieved that he was dressed, although his boxers were more thin than one would've hoped. He grabbed Sharon's robe and sweatpants and a t-shirt for Andy and went to the kitchen. Sharon would probably rather not be in just her pajamas when the paramedics got there, and Andy was too panicked to realize that all he was wearing were boxers that left _entirely_ too little to the imagination.

Less than an hour later, Andy was filling Sharon's forms out as well as he could when he heard forceful coughing and a weak "I can't" from Sharon. A nurse patted her shoulder. "That's okay. We're going to give you a breathing treatment soon, and we'll try again after that."

Andy looked up from the forms in his lap. "What's going on?"

"We need to do a sputum test, but she's having a little trouble. A breathing treatment should loosen it up and help her cough it up a little more easily," the nurse explained. She turned back to Sharon. "It's probably pneumonia, and with your low blood pressure and difficulty breathing, we'll have you admitted as soon as the paperwork goes through."

Andy nodded and finished the forms in front of him as quickly as he could. He had to ask Sharon a couple of questions about her medical history, but he soon finished and gave the clipboard to the nurse.

Meanwhile, Rusty was pacing the living room, not so patiently waiting for Andy to call. He'd wanted to follow them to the hospital, but Andy had convinced him to wait until Sharon was in a regular room. He'd gotten a few reassuring "she's okay" texts, that they suspected pneumonia and were running tests, but Rusty couldn't block the image of Sharon on a stretcher with an oxygen mask over her face from his mind. She'd lost a little weight in the last couple of weeks from being sick and having no appetite, and she'd looked so small and helpless. It scared the shit out of him. He'd taken a shower and tried to go back to sleep, but that had been a joke, so he'd finally gotten dressed and stared at his phone. Andy finally called with a room number and a few requests for items for him and Sharon from the condo. Visiting hours were only a couple of hours away, and Andy had gotten permission from the nurse for Rusty to come to the room when he got there. He knew Rusty wouldn't rest until he saw for himself that Sharon was okay, and he and Sharon both needed some things from home.

Sharon fell asleep not long after she was moved to a hospital room, and she woke up a few hours later to Andy sleeping, sitting straight up in a chair near her bed. She had been told she could change out of her hospital gown if she wanted to, but she'd waited for clean clothes. She was cold, and the pad she'd been wearing as a result of intense coughing hadn't been changed since the night before, and it had to go. Rusty was curled up, unconscious, on one end of the uncomfortable-looking couch under the window. She reached over and clutched Andy's hand, which startled him awake. His eyes were red, and she would've assumed it was just from lack of sleep if she couldn't see lingering tear stains on his cheeks. "Hey," he mumbled. "Scare the crap out of me one time, why don't you?"

Andy's light-hearted tone didn't fool Sharon. His drawn expression and the underlying heaviness to his voice revealed that he'd been frightened, and probably still was. "Hey. You're one to talk." She gave his hand a gentle squeeze. "I'll be okay."

"I know." Andy kissed her forehead and offered her the thermos of water from the table beside her. "Need anything?"

Sharon took a few sips and gave the thermos back to Andy. "I just want to put my pajamas on. It's cold in here." Her breathing treatment from earlier had helped a lot, and as long as she drank water when nurses told her to, she wouldn't need IV fluids, so Sharon was pleasantly surprised to not be hooked up to anything, but she gazed curiously at the port-like thing in her arm she was just now noticing. "What's this?"

"That's for your antibiotic," Andy explained. "You were a little out of it the first time they gave it to you. They just hook it to that so they don't have to stick your arm every time." He stood up and helped her out of bed. She didn't require assistance to move around, but Andy held her hand and walked with her to the bathroom with the bag Rusty brought in his other hand. He placed the bag on the floor in front of the sink so Sharon could get whatever she wanted and closed the door behind him to give her some privacy. She used the bathroom and changed clothes, and the warm pajamas and new pad made her feel a little better. She'd been too tired and felt too gross to even think about being embarrassed about asking Andy to tell Rusty to grab them for her, and she was relieved when neither of them had asked any questions. The idea of Rusty's face while going through her dresser drawer for a couple of extra pairs of panties _did_ give her a laugh as she finished up in the bathroom.

Andy was fiddling with the thermostat unit in her room, and he made his way back to her when he heard the door open. Their movements had woken Rusty up, and he was sitting up and rubbing his eyes when Sharon stepped back into the room. He stood up and carefully hugged her. "I'm so glad you're okay. You scared the hell out of me. Do you need anything?"

"Yes, I've heard. I'm sorry." Sharon slipped her arm around his waist and gave him a soft squeeze. "I'm okay, but thanks." As Andy helped her back into bed, she noticed that her bed pillow and a couple of blankets from home were on her bed. "Thanks, honey. I didn't even know I wanted this stuff."

"You're welcome." Andy straightened the blankets over her and smoothed some stray hair from her loose ponytail back from her face. "Is that better? Are you warm enough?"

"Yes, that's much better…Did you email in about being out of work today?"

Andy rolled his eyes. " _Yes_ , and don't worry about work. Provenza's bitching about being crammed on the seventh floor with Robbery Homicide while they repair our floor, but—ahhh, speaking of the devil." Andy picked up his buzzing phone and saw that Provenza was calling. He updated him and talked for a few minutes, but he couldn't get Provenza off of the phone, so he finally pulled rank. Or Sharon's rank, rather. "Yeah, okay, well Sharon says we have to get off of the phone so you can get back to work."

Sharon snorted. "Yeah, those cat videos aren't going to watch themselves."

"There are probably some crossword puzzles that need some attention, too," Rusty added.

Andy chuckled as he wrapped up the call. "Yeah, I think it's safe to say that our capt— _commander_ —is on the mend."


	9. Chapter 9

**The content of this is not based upon the actual episode where Andy asks Sharon out to Serve. I know the time of year is different and that the content of the interview doesn't really fit in with that episode. Again, liberties have been taken with characterization :)**

 **Prompt request for a witness flirting with Sharon**

After hitting a dead end in the middle of a case, Tao managed to uncover a possible witness. This witness seemed to be a bit of a womanizer, so Sharon and Amy were the obvious choices to interview him. "I mean, she was the kind of woman that turned every head when she walked into a room..." He gave Sharon a leering look. "You'd know all about that, wouldn't you, babe?" If the man hadn't been freaking hot as all hell with a sultry voice to match, Sharon could've brushed his words off with no problem, but she struggled to maintain a schooled expression. She still appeared stoic from the table up, but he was creating stirrings in her below the table that she hadn't felt in a while. She was practically twitching, and she hoped her years of experience in maintaining a poker face despite what might be going on inside of her were paying off. The man oozed testosterone, and in another setting, she'd let him have his way with her in a heartbeat. Amy shot her an amused side-eye as they questioned the man, but her expression otherwise revealed nothing.

As they wrapped up the basic facts part of the interview and started to get into details that might lead to some helpful information, Sharon gradually became friendlier and a little flirty, hoping to get his guard down. She'd doubted from the beginning that he was guilty, but she had a feeling that he had more information than he was letting on, and she was only doing this to draw information out of him, of course. She was well aware that Andy was watching from the electronics room and probably had clenched fists and a red face by now, but hell, it's not like they were dating. He had put the ball in her court several months ago, but after having that time to think about where she wanted their relationship to go, she'd realized she wanted to move forward, so she'd subtly toed the metaphorical ball back into his court. Yes, it was 2015 and there was nothing wrong with asking him out herself, but she was a little old-fashioned on that front and preferred to leave the asking out to him. If he'd just stop dragging his damn feet. She wanted a real date, not a "let's grab something to eat" as they were leaving work. She didn't know if he was nervous or having second thoughts or what, but her patience was growing thin.

Sharon and Amy finally wrapped up the interview when they were satisfied with the information they'd gotten out of him. The rest of the team had left the electronics room and were all carrying on in the murder room like they'd been working at their desks the whole time, but Sharon noticed Andy watching them over the file he was pretending to read. Mr. Tall, Dark, and Brutally Handsome was walking in close proximity to her, and Andy looked ready to explode. The witness quickly squeezed Sharon's hand and looked at her like he could see straight through her clothes. "I'll give you a call about what we discussed." Sharon was confused until she remembered that he'd promised to find something out from someone else, so she'd given him her card with her office phone number on it.

It was after 7:00, so Sharon decided it was best for everyone to call it a day and start fresh the next morning. She was too tired to deal with Andy, so she took her time packing her things in her office, hoping he would be gone by the time she had her office locked up. If she knew him like she thought she did, he'd probably left as soon as he could to give himself a chance to cool down before he saw her again. Which was fine with her. She was too tired and in too ill of a mood to deal with his sad puppy eyes.

Sure enough, the murder room was empty, but Sharon was surprised to see Andrea leaving the electronics room as she walked toward the elevators. When she wasn't in the murder room when she'd gotten out of the interview, she'd assumed she left as soon as it was over. "Oh, good, you're still here. You free for dinner?"

Andrea nodded. "Please, I'm starving. And I could kill a couple of glasses of wine."

"Me, too. It's been a minute since I've really talked to anyone that doesn't have a penis. I need some girl time."

"You should've seen Andy," Andrea commented as they sipped their glasses of wine. "He did _not_ like you flirting with that lech."

"It was just to get him talking more," Sharon defended herself, "and at least _someone's_ flirting with me, for once. I might as well be Andy's sister."

Andrea nodded. "It wasn't a judgment—Andy needs to pull his head out of his ass. Even if you _were_ genuinely flirting with that creep, who could blame you? He was freaking _hot_."

" _Wasn't_ he?! I think my tubes came untied just from sitting across the table from him. I'm pretty sure he could've unhooked my bra with his _eyes_ if he wanted to."

Andrea shrugged. "I certainly would let him try, should the situation present itself. Damn."

Sharon sipped her wine. "I've been just as uncertain about Andy as I guess he is about me, if not more, but I let him know not long ago that I was ready to date when he was. I _know_ he got the message, because he looked a little panicked. It would be so much easier if we didn't work together and weren't already good friends. We care a lot about each other, but if our relationship didn't work out for some reason, there's a lot at stake. I wouldn't want things to be awkward at work or to lose a good friend, and I'm sure he feels the same way."

"You guys still need to give it a shot. How will you know if you don't try? You'll spend your life wondering what could have been."

"You're preaching to the choir. You think I don't know that?"

Sharon was pleasantly surprised a couple of evenings later when Andy asked her on what finally appeared to be a real date. If she had to guess, it probably had to do with him having a similar conversation with Provenza as she'd had with Andrea. After her conversation with Andrea earlier that week, the first thing she did was find her so she could tell her about it.

On Friday evening, Sharon and Andy both hung back as everyone else was leaving. They had plenty of time before their reservation, and she had some errands she could run in the meantime. "So, I'll meet you at—"

Andy shook his head. "No. Go home, and I'll come pick you up. This is a date, not an after-work dinner with coworkers."

Sharon shook her head. "That doesn't make any sense. That's so far out of the way for you—"

"Small price to pay." Andy tentatively reached for Sharon's hand as they walked toward the elevators and leaned in to kiss her cheek. It was meant to be a quick gesture, but he couldn't help but pause and breathe in the scent of her hair. After a few moments, he awkwardly jumped back from her when he realized how long his lips had been pressed to her skin. Sharon tightened her grip on his hand when she felt him pulling away, but didn't otherwise acknowledge his jerky movements. The _hell_ was he so nervous about?

By the time Sharon got home, she knew _exactly_ what the hell he was so nervous about. She'd been excited when he'd finally grown a pair and asked her out on a real date, but now that they had taken a step toward officially dating, she was apprehensive about the idea again. Now she had to worry about things being awkward between them at work if it didn't work out and the inevitable task of sexual boundaries. She was no prude, but dating someone from work was different. She didn't want anything to advance on that front until she was certain that their relationship was likely long-term, but she didn't know what Andy would think about that. She worked herself into a pretty good snit as she freshened up and looked through her closet for something to wear. _Why_ was she just now thinking about this?! While Andy had made it clear that this was a date, she hadn't thought about other "date" specifics, like what the hell she was going to wear, simply because she'd assumed she wouldn't come home first. Had she even shaved her legs? Yes, that morning. No crisis there. And her hair? Should she put it up, or would that look like she was trying too hard? God, life was so much simpler when she was just his "friend, Sharon." She got a glass of wine from the kitchen and took large sips from it as she sorted through her closet, hoping it would calm her nerves.

Sharon's eyes fell on a black dress she'd worn to a friend's son's wedding a few months ago. She'd taken Andy, mostly just to have someone to dance with and to quell her friends' never-ending quests to set her up with someone. She'd caught him staring at her more than once that night, and she had a deep purple dress that was more casual and fit her similarly, so that seemed like a sensible choice. After draping the dress over her bed along with the shoes she usually wore with it, she went back to the bathroom to finish getting ready.

By the time Andy knocked on the door, her hair had been touched up with the curling iron, and she was applying fresh lipstick. After hastily zipping herself into her dress, sliding her shoes on, and spritzing herself with perfume, she tried to collect herself as she made her way to the living room and quickly looked around to make sure nothing that didn't belong to Rusty was out of place. She'd cleaned up a bit the night before, so that hadn't been much of a concern with Andy picking her up, and he had heard her complain about Rusty too much _not_ to expect to see his shit all over the place, so she didn't worry about his things lying around. After kicking a stray pair of panties under the couch that she was just now noticing had fallen on the floor while she was folding laundry the night before, she opened the door. "Hey. Come in, I just need a minute."

Andy chuckled as she turned her back to him. "You don't say."

"Hmm?" Sharon looked down, half expecting to find her dress tucked into her underwear or something, but she felt Andy's hands on her back. " _I'm_ not complaining, but you'd probably rather not leave home when you're only half-zipped."

Sharon's face flushed hotly as Andy zipped her up the rest of the way. "Thank you." After transferring her license, a credit card, a little cash, and a small pack of gum to her clutch, she turned back to Andy. "Ready?"

Andy opened the door for her. The elevator ride was awkwardly silent, and the car ride was even worse. They'd never been so quiet in each other's company before, even when they weren't particularly fond of each other. _Say something, Sharon, say something_ , she silently urged herself. She'd never clammed up around Andy like this before, and her mind seemed blank. She couldn't think of a single thing to say. _Seriously, Sharon, anything! Just say something_. "So, um, the days are getting shorter," She lamely observed. _Ugh, Raydor, anything but that_!

Andy nodded. "Yeah. It's, uh, getting to be fall." Okay, he was just as lame.

They mercifully arrived at the restaurant, finally, after a ride of mostly painful silence. Sharon's fingers felt raw after nervously playing at the hem of her dress for most of the ride. She looked around the restaurant as Andy informed the hostess of their reservation, furiously trying to come up with some topics of conversation for when they were seated. She had zoned out, but she snapped to attention at Andy's raised voice. "What do you mean, there's no reservation for Flynn?! I made it yesterday!"

The hostess tapped at the screen in front of her for a few moments. "Oh, I see the problem. Whoever took your reservation must've entered it in our system for tomorrow. I'm really sorry, but there was an event across the street earlier, and many of those people came here afterward. We're even more packed than normal on a Friday. It'll be over a two-hour wait."

"But I made a reservation—"

Sharon lightly placed her hand on Andy's arm, and she could feel him relax under her touch. "It's fine, Andy, we can just come back tomorrow."

The hostess gave them an apologetic look. "I'll make a note here for your server tomorrow night to take a little off of your bill."

"Thank you." Sharon gently led Andy to the door.

Andy wracked his brain, trying to decide what to do next. The obvious choice seemed to be to go somewhere they knew was good but wouldn't have much of a wait, but that seemed too much like their previous "friendly" after-work dinners. The lady that cleaned his house a couple of days a month had luckily come the day before, and he knew he had a frozen lasagna they could put in the oven. He was confident enough in his culinary skills to offer that, and it would definitely be a different kind of night than anything they'd ever done before. "I've got a lasagna in the freezer at home, we can heat that up," Andy offered. "If you don't mind vegetarian."

Sharon nodded. "No, that sounds good. But why don't you take me home first to get my car? You'll be late getting home if you take me back later."

Andy shook his head. "No, this is a date. I'm picking you up and taking you home."

The mixup at Serve had given them a little to talk about, but they fell back into an awkward silence halfway to Andy's house. Sharon was wracking her brain again, trying to come up with something to fill the silence. "So, I talked to Hobbs about—"

"Nuh-uh, no work talk," Andy interrupted. "This isn't a post-work dinner, it's a date."

Sharon smiled. "For someone who complains about my rules, you sure do have a lot of them tonight." That lightened the mood a little, and the conversation gradually picked up as they drove to Andy's house. Still, Sharon was relieved when they pulled off into a residential area, as they had to be nearing his house. They walked inside through the garage a few minutes later, and Andy opened the wide door between the kitchen and the patio to let in some of the pleasantly cooler air. The sound of crickets chirping and the scent of tea olive made Sharon realize how much she missed having a house sometimes.

Sharon gave Andy a confused look when he started opening a bottle of wine. She'd learned early on in her Major Crimes tenure from the occasional team dinner after they'd closed a case or for someone's birthday that it didn't bother him for people to drink in front of him, but she didn't expect him to have alcohol in his home. "It's Provenza's," he explained, seeing the perplexed look on her face. "He's over here a lot, and I never really liked wine, so I don't mind keeping it here."

Sharon blushed, realizing her facial expression had given her away. "I'm sorry. I know you're not drinking—"

"It's fine. I would've been confused, too." Andy gave her a playful look. "As long as you don't vomit on my shoes this time."

Now, Sharon was really confused. "What?"

Andy laughed. "You don't remember? After Nicole's wedding, I was helping you into the car, and next thing I knew, you were leaning back out and vomiting on my feet."

Sharon covered her face with her hands. "Oh, _no_! Andy! I'm so sorry. I've got nothing on that. I barely remember leaving the reception, and anything after that is a black hole until I woke up the next morning and felt like death warmed up." The original plan had been for her to ride from the church to the reception with Andy and for him to take her back to her car after the reception, but he ended up driving her home after she'd unexpectedly been overserved. Rusty had taken her to get her car the next afternoon after she'd recovered. After weeks of fear and worry over Rusty's anonymous letter-writer and night after night of being stuck in the condo, both for Rusty's protection and for trying to prevent putting her friends in a dangerous situation, the rare night out had caused Sharon to drink a bit more than usual.

Andy shrugged. "I didn't mind. Believe it or not, I'm no stranger to vomit. Seeing you drunk was actually pretty entertaining. You found one of my Motown CDs and put it in, and I got a free concert while I drove you home."

"Oh, my god! Drunken singing and vomit, I'm sure _that_ was hot."

Andy grinned. "Oh, it was. Really, though, I'm not kidding." He got music playing from his phone before getting the lasagna out of the freezer, a fresh head of lettuce from the refrigerator, and a large bowl from a cabinet.

Sharon started tearing bits of lettuce into the bowl for salad as Andy put the lasagna in the oven. With a glass of wine and _Domino_ by Van Morrison playing in the background, she was more relaxed than she'd been all evening. "How are things going with Nicole and Drew?" She asked. _Why_ hadn't she thought to fill the silence with this in the car?! That was a rule of small talk—when all else fails, ask about kids. She'd been too nervous to even _think_ about that simple solution at the time.

"Things are great with Nicole. She invites me over a good bit, and we go out to dinner every now and then. Sometimes just the two of us, sometimes with Dean and the boys. Once or twice a month, I have the boys here to spend the night on a Friday or Saturday night, and I know Nicole and Dean appreciate the break. But Drew...Well, he's a different story." Sharon gave him a sad smile and squeezed his arm. "I don't blame him," Andy continued. "Nicole still had her mom, and she got along with their stepdad better than Drew did. It's tough to be a teenager and not have a parent of the same sex to talk to about stuff. I had partial custody and had the kids every other weekend, but they only came because they had to. Drew wasn't exactly sharing anything with me or coming to me for advice."

"At least you gave him the chance," Sharon pointed out. "You made an effort to be in his life. You've done everything you could to repair the relationship. He has to meet you halfway."

"I guess you know about the other side of that," Andy commented. He knew Jack's presence at home had been sporadic at best.

Sharon nodded. "Several of my neighbors and I were close friends, and we kind of became each other's extended family. No one had much real family nearby, so we would step in for each other when someone needed help with kids, and we often functioned as second parents for each other's children. I love my friends' children like they're my own. One of the families in our neighborhood was a widowed dad and his daughter, and he'd tag in with Ricky when I needed him. I did the same for his daughter." She added some toppings Andy had pulled out of the refrigerator to the salad. "Ricky was barely two the first time Jack left and wasn't even out of diapers yet. When he was three, I'd noticed for months that there were usually small drops of pee in his underwear at night before I gave him a bath, and I just attributed it to him sometimes waiting a little too long to go to the toilet. I thought it would get better as he got more used to it, but it went on for months. After a while, I started getting onto him almost every night about not waiting too long to go to the bathroom. I thought he was still waiting until the last second and leaking a little before he got to the toilet. He insisted that he wasn't, and I didn't believe him."

Andy chuckled. "I know _exactly_ where this is going. You didn't know to tell him to shake off, did you?"

"I had _no_ idea! I finally thought to call my brother and ask exactly how that was handled! He still makes fun of me to this day."

Andy cackled. "That's a conversation I'd _love_ to hear. I can actually do better than that. Nicole was with me when she got her first period, and I think I was more of a wreck than she was. She locked herself in the bathroom and was screaming about wanting to go home, and I had no idea _what_ was wrong with her. I called Sandra and had to leave the phone outside of the bathroom door and walk away just so Nicole would open the door to get the phone. When I got the phone back and Sandra explained what the problem was, I went out to buy some pads for her. I came back with incontinence pads."

Sharon shrieked with laughter and nearly spit out her wine. "That is hilarious!" She winced and held her hand to her face. "I think a little wine went up my nose, but that was _so_ worth it."

"I was standing in that aisle, surrounded by women and sticking out like a sore thumb, so I just grabbed the first pack I saw and got the hell out of there. Pads are pads, right? Yeah, the ass-chewing I got from Sandra suggested otherwise."

The image of a befuddled Andy standing in the middle of the feminine products aisle was too much for Sharon. Tears were streaming down her cheeks as she laughed helplessly.

Andy grinned. "It's pretty funny now, but then, not so much."

Sharon wiped her eyes. "I can't imagine." This wasn't exactly traditional first date conversation material, but they'd gotten through that when they were oblivious to the fact that they were dating. They were comfortable enough with one another to have more personal conversations now. The reservations Sharon'd had about "officially" dating were starting to fade. She spaced out for a minute, so she jumped when Andy pulled her into his arms.

"Sorry. I didn't mean to startle you, but when Lionel's singing, you have to dance."

Sharon looked up at Andy. "Another rule?"

Andy shrugged. "Hey, at least _my_ rules are fun, unlike _someone's_ I can think of."

"I'll give you that." _This_ was where she wanted to be. Making dinner with Andy and swapping stories about their pasts and dancing in the kitchen and Andy having rules like you have to dance when Lionel Richie is playing.

 _I spent a night in L.A._

 _Just another chance to see you_

 _Just you and I_

 _Wanted you to know_

 _That my playing days are over_

 _'Cause all I do is think of you_

 _The writing's on the wall_

 _Deep river woman_

 _Lord I'm coming home to you_

 _Deep river woman_

 _Lord I know she's waiting_

 _Just anticipating all my love_

 _I've been out in the world_

 _Yes, the fast life had me going_

 _Now all that's changed_

 _I finally made up my mind_

 _About the one thing_

 _I've been knowing_

 _You're the only girl_

 _I've ever cared for in this world_

"Andy...About that witness..."

Andy tightened his arms around her. "No need to explain. You weren't doing it to hurt me, you were playing at his weakness to get more information out of him. And you did a damn good job, we wouldn't have finished the case as quickly if you hadn't gotten him talking." Yes, his blood had been boiling as he watched the interview, and he'd left quickly to avoid Sharon so he wouldn't lose his temper with her. He hadn't wanted to face her until he was thinking logically again. It had also made him realize that if he really wanted a future with her, then he needed to make a move. How she was still available had been a mystery to him for a while now, but that wouldn't necessarily always be the case. There'd be no reason for her to turn down a date with someone else just because they were "sort-of, unofficially, dating but not dating."

"I know this isn't what you had in mind, but I'm kind of glad it worked out like this," Sharon admitted.

Andy looked down at her. "Really?"

"Yeah. It's more...I don't know, personal, I guess? We'd probably still be staring at each other and trying to come up with something to say if we were at Serve right now." A faster song was playing now, but they were still in each other's arms and slowly swaying.

Andy chuckled. "I think you're right. What the hell was _that_ about?"

"I don't know. Making the move to officially 'dating,' maybe? I know we've both had our reservations, but..." Sharon tightened her arms around Andy's waist. "I like this. This feels right."

Andy kissed the top of her head. "I think so, too."

Sharon looked up, and after a brief look of consensus, she leaned into him as his lips covered hers. The kiss was tender and slow, with enough tempered passion to reveal how he felt about her. Yes, this was just right.


	10. Chapter 10

**A couple of weeks ago, I saw a comment somewhere on social media (no idea who said it now) that Sharon's promotion to Commander is an anniversary we should celebrate, and I absolutely agree. In honor of the recent second anniversary of her promotion, here's a flashback to the first anniversary. She's alive and well and never had cardiomyopathy.**

 **16–"I always want to kiss you."**

 **April 2018**

"Shar?"

Sharon fought through the haze of sleep as Andy pressed himself into her back. Before she opened her eyes, she recognized the raspy request that sometimes happened early in the morning before either of them were fully awake. After a refreshing night of sleep, she was happy to oblige, but she couldn't for the life of her figure out where they were at first. The smell of the room and the texture of the sheets were all wrong. Both were pleasant, they were just different...Oh, right. They were in Ireland on their honeymoon. After some drama with lost luggage and a struggle with adjusting their bodies to local time, they'd finally found their bearings a couple of days after arriving and were functioning like human beings again.

Sharon turned around to face Andy. "Hey." She could tell from the look on his face that her suspicion about his intent was correct, so she wedged one of her legs between his and started kissing him. "Now, _this_ is my kind of wake up call."

Andy grinned against her lips. "You know me. Always happy to help."

"And they say chivalry's dead."

"Not on my watch."

Later that morning, they did a little sightseeing in town before landing at a beachfront diner for lunch. "What do you want to do this afternoon?" Andy asked as they waited for their food.

Sharon sipped her mimosa and looked out toward the beach. "I wouldn't mind just sitting on the beach. It's supposed to get colder tomorrow, and it's beautiful. I could live with another slow day before we do much of anything else." They had purposefully planned for their first three days to be in a smaller town so they could unwind and not feel like there were a lot of things they needed to see and do, but there was still enough to do to keep them entertained.

"Are you sure? We can ride horses on the beach, or there's a cliffs tour that's supposed to be breathtaking."

Sharon nodded. "We can find something else to do if you want to, but I could do without riding horses, and we can do the cliffs tour or whatever else tomorrow."

Andy shrugged. "I don't mind going to the beach, I just thought you might want to do something more special today."

Sharon tilted her head. That wasn't the first time that week he'd said something like that about today, and she knew he'd made reservations at the nicest restaurant in the area for dinner that night. She couldn't figure out why he was harping on this day to be more eventful than the others.

After lunch, Sharon and Andy went back to the hotel to change clothes. It wasn't warm out, but it wasn't too cold to make being outside unpleasant, either. Still, the thin-blooded Californians needed warm clothes and a blanket. After getting a couple of chairs from the hotel, they scoped out a spot on the beach. They spotted a few people up and down the coast, but they mostly had it to themselves. After reading and idly chatting for a while, Andy was getting restless, so they walked down the beach for a while. Sharon looped her arm through Andy's, and she stopped every few minutes to kiss him. "Hey, I wouldn't object to going back to the room if you're ready for round two," Andy teased.

"I don't know about that, but after this morning, I can't stay away from you."

"Glad to hear it. I haven't been able to decide whether you going right back to sleep was a good thing or a bad thing." Andy had let Sharon have the bathroom first afterward, and by the time he'd taken a quick shower, she'd climbed back under the covers and was unconscious.

Sharon squeezed his hand and rested against his shoulder. " _Definitely_ not a bad thing."

"I think you were right about coming down here. This is the perfect way to spend today."

Sharon paused and looked up at Andy. "Why have you been so fixated on making today special?" She finally asked.

Andy raised his eyebrows. "Don't you think the anniversary of your promotion to Commander is something to celebrate?"

Sharon's eyes widened as she struggled to calculate what today's date was. He was right. "Oh, my, I completely forgot!"

Andy mockingly rolled his eyes. "I am _surrounded_ by people with _no_ sense of occasion."

Sharon drove her elbow into his side. "Well, _someone_ distracted me from having any idea of what today's date is."

"Guilty." Andy nipped at her neck as they walked along.

Sharon's thoughts wandered back to the events of the last several months. She and Andy had decided to postpone their honeymoon to April when they realized Stroh was closing in on LA around the time of their wedding. Sharon had been too afraid to leave Rusty for such an extended period at the time, despite his security detail. She also would've worried the whole time and wouldn't have been able to enjoy the honeymoon. Not to mention that, on second thought, who the _hell_ wants to go to Ireland in November? Now, with Stroh out of their hair and Sharon recently retiring by choice, both to keep herself out of further dangerous situations and as a distaste for the changing politics within the LAPD, she couldn't think of a better way to celebrate the anniversary of her promotion. Starting the morning in bed with the man she loved and having a lazy day in an idle Ireland town and on the beach was perfect.

Later that evening, after a candlelit dinner of the best food Sharon had ever tasted, she shivered against Andy as they walked back to the hotel. The wind had picked up, and she wished she'd worn her heavier coat until Andy wrapped his arm around her. The restaurant had been in the opposite direction from their hotel as they'd taken when they walked around that morning, so the shops and attractions around them were new. Sharon raised her head from Andy's shoulder when they passed a small pub. "Look, Andy, O'Dwyer's! We have to go in."

Andy shrugged. "Why not? It's still a little early."

They found two empty barstools, and Sharon looked around after ordering a Guinness. "My granddad was in his early twenties when he moved to the US, and I remember him talking about the pubs here that he loved. This looks almost exactly like the ones he described." The pub had a quaint feel to it, and it looked like it hadn't changed much in the last century or so. The first Guinness went down a little too easily, and after a martini and a couple of glasses of wine with dinner, Sharon had been feeling the effects before they left the restaurant. Andy was talking to a local man that was sitting on the other side of him, and after the second Guinness, she knew she should probably stop, but that didn't stop her from ordering a third. When in Ireland, right? She didn't realize how drunk she was until she got up to go to the bathroom. She grabbed Andy's shoulder to steady herself, and he looked up at her. "You okay?"

"Yeah. Just going to the bathroom." Her words were reasonably unslurred, or so she hoped, and she managed to make her way to the bathroom and back without incident. She'd splashed water on her face and felt a little more in control of herself, and the live music and atmosphere of the pub made that last beer seem like a good idea.

Andy ended his conversation and turned to Sharon when he realized she'd been quiet for a while. She'd added to the conversation a little bit at first, but then seemed to just want to enjoy the music for a while. She was swaying a little, and he could tell from her glazed-over eyes that it was time to call it a night. He quickly paid the tab and gently guided her off of her bar stool. "You ready to go? I'm tired."

"'Kay." Sharon leaned against Andy as they walked back to their hotel, more out of necessity than for warmth this time, but she had her wits about her enough to try to appear to be reasonably sober. She wasn't doing the best job of that, but she was trying.

When they got back to the hotel, Andy detoured to the gift shop. "What're you doing?" Sharon mumbled.

"We don't have anything to drink in our room. Thought you might want some ginger ale or water."

"I'm _not_ drunk."

"When did I say you were? We just might get thirsty before tomorrow."

"Mm-hmm." Sharon crossed her arms and waited impatiently for Andy to get what he wanted and have them charged to their room. Her mind was muddled, and she just wanted to go to bed. When they got upstairs, she did the bare minimum of her nighttime routine, i.e. a quick brush of her teeth and washing her face just thoroughly enough to get most of her makeup off, and collapsed into bed. Her dress was crumpled on the floor in the bathroom. It had been itchy from the inside, so she'd worn a camisole under it, and she was still in that and her bra and panties when she fell into bed. _This_ was why she hardly ever drank more than a couple of glasses of wine at a time. It still happened every now and then, but she hated it every time and always swore never to do it again.

"Hold on, Commander, let's get your bra off."

The sentence sounded so absurd, and it made Sharon giggle. Still, she didn't want to admit to being too drunk to care about having it on, so she protested. "I _like_ my bra."

"Since when? Hold on, it'll just take a second." Andy chuckled as he unhooked her bra and pulled it out from her camisole. Drunk Sharon didn't make an appearance all that often, but said appearance usually had a tendency to take that of a petulant child.

Sharon waited for Andy to go to the bathroom before she took a few sips of ginger ale. She didn't feel sick, thank god, but her stomach felt heavy from so much beer, and the ginger ale settled it some. Next thing she knew, it was morning, and she had a headache and a disgusting taste in her mouth. It took a minute to recall the events of the night before, and she let out a low groan as she remembered what happened. The hell was she even wearing? Regardless of any pre-bedtime activities, she always put on a nightgown or pajama set before she went to sleep. She felt a sore spot on her thigh, and she pushed the covers down to investigate. A nasty bruise had formed sometime during the night, and she was drawing a blank on that one.

"Morning, sunshine." Andy struggled to open his eyes as he pulled Sharon close to him.

"Morning...Any idea where the bruise on my leg came from?"

"I think you got up to go to the bathroom sometime last night and walked into the table on your way. I just remember waking up to a thump and then the daintiest-sounding 'fuck' I've ever heard."

Sharon covered her face with her hands. "Oh, my _god_ , I was drunk last night. Must've been the martini, those are never a good idea. I only had three beers at that pub...Didn't I?"

"Technically, but those glasses were enormous. They were probably more like one and a half beers apiece."

"Nice." Sharon wrinkled her nose and placed two restraining fingers against Andy's lips when he leaned down to kiss her. "You don't want to kiss me just yet. I didn't do the best job of brushing my teeth last night, and my mouth tastes like a sweatsock."

"You're going to have to try harder than that. I _always_ want to kiss you." Andy gently moved her fingers so he could properly kiss her. "So, what'd you think of your first anniversary of being named Commander?"

"I feel just as accomplished as I did then, and I'm _beyond_ happy to be retired and able to see my family and friends as much I want."


	11. Chapter 11

**Liberties have been taken with characterization :)**

 **9 - "You're soft and warm and I don't want you to move." ~Fall 2020**

Sharon woke up one Friday morning to the sound of pouring rain and booming thunder. Oh, yes, this was _definitely_ a perk of being retired—she didn't have to leave the house and could lie in bed as long as she wanted when it was storming. She'd gotten a little hot the night before, so she'd turned the thermostat down, but now she was freezing. She wished it were Saturday so Andy could stay in bed with her. Stormy mornings were rare, but it was the perfect excuse to spend the morning in bed. Andy's shrill alarm violently jerked her more awake, and she spooned herself behind him as he turned off the alarm and started to sit up. He paused when he felt Sharon cuddle him from behind. "You hafta go to work?" she mumbled, her voice faint and muffled and her words not as clearly enunciated as usual in her drowsy haze.

"Afraid so. _Some_ of us still have weekday obligations, you know."

Sharon wrapped her arm around Andy and pressed herself more closely to him. "Email in. I think you need to stay home."

Andy grinned as he rolled over and kissed her forehead. "And my excuse would be…"

"That you're soft and warm and I don't want you to move."

Andy chuckled. "Yeah. I'm sure Hernandez would go for _that_ one."

Sharon smoothed her hand over his chest and gave him a pleading look. "You're retiring soon, anyway, and you have an ungodly amount of sick days. You look a little under the weather to me." The longer she was retired, the less important work technicalities seemed to be. Hell, Andy had more than put in his due time. He deserved a day off.

Andy was actually starting to consider this. They didn't have a case, he was caught up on paperwork, and he'd probably spend most of the day at work watching Provenza cuss his way through crossword puzzles and ask unending questions to try to fill in the blanks. He hadn't taken a sick day in over a year, so he didn't feel much guilt there, either. Staying in bed was sounding better and better. "Hmmmm…You are _not_ a good influence."

Sharon shrugged. "Who said I was?"

Andy grabbed his phone from his nightstand and emailed in that he needed to take a sick day before he could change his mind. With that taken care of, he crawled back under the covers with Sharon and wrapped his arm around her as they both went back to sleep.

A little while later, Sharon woke up to the feeling of Andy's lips on her neck. They were starting to heat up when they heard little feet toddling into their room, and they both froze. "What…Crap, I forgot Emily and Marie were here," Sharon muttered. Emmett was traveling for work, and Sharon had invited Emily over for dinner the night before. Anticipating a few glasses of wine on the porch afterward, Emily had brought their things so she and Marie could spend the night.

In a panic, Sharon tore herself away from Andy and pulled the covers up over herself. She was already mostly undressed, and the _last_ thing she needed was Marie asking questions about her absence of "'jamas." She lay back down and closed her eyes, hoping against hope that Marie would go back to Emily if she thought they were asleep, but of course the two year old was unfazed. Sharon inwardly groaned when she felt a small hand patting her cheek. "Up, Gammy! Canbakes!" It never failed, the first word Sharon always heard from Marie in the morning if she was with them overnight was a demand for pancakes in her toddler tongue.

Sharon slowly opened her eyes and stroked Marie's light brown hair. She was so cute in her footie pajamas and disheveled hair. "Morning, precious. Girl. That is some _serious_ bedhead."

Recognizing Sharon's predicament, Andy climbed over her and slipped into the bathroom to grab his robe. He was at least still in his boxers. He tied his robe on and scooped Marie up. "Let's go get our pancakes started, and Gammy will come in just a minute, okay?" He cast a suffering look at Sharon. "Cockblocked by a two year old. Unbelievable."

" _Andy_ ," Sharon chided. Once they were gone, she pulled on a pair of pajama pants and a sweatshirt. She wasn't any happier than Andy was that they'd gotten interrupted, but _damn_ it, Marie was too adorable to refuse. She could hear dishes clanging and Marie giggling as she approached the kitchen, but she was surprised when Emily wasn't there. "Where's Mommy?" She asked Marie.

"As'eep," Marie answered.

Sharon's eyes widened. "How did you get out of your pack'n play?" She didn't think she'd be able to climb out, but Marie was too focused on watching Andy making pancakes to answer.

Emily rushed in a few minutes later as Sharon was pouring a mug of coffee, and she was relieved to see Marie with Sharon and Andy. "Oh, thank god. I panicked when I woke up and she was gone. I think her other molars are coming in, and she woke up screaming a few times last night. I finally just put her in bed with me."

Sharon got another mug and poured some coffee for Emily. "That explains it. I thought she'd somehow climbed out of her pack'n play when you weren't up yet."

"Mama!" Marie exclaimed. She pointed at Andy. "Cock-ba!"

Emily looked bewildered. "What?"

Marie pointed at Andy again. "Cock-ba!"

Sharon bit back a laugh as Andy's cheeks flushed. She'd warned him about saying things in front of Marie that didn't need to be repeated. Emily giggled. "It sounds like she's saying 'cockblock.' She can be one, but I don't think Emmett's whined about it when she was around before."

"Papa cock-ba!" Marie insisted.

Emily gave Marie a chiding look. "Did you wake up Gammy and Papa?"

"Papa no wear 'jamas!" Marie announced.

"I wasn't wearing the kind she's used to seeing me in," Andy clarified. He checked her diaper, desperate for a distraction. "Nobody's changed you this morning, have they? Let's get you out of this wet diaper." Andy fled the room with Marie in his arms. He'd never been so happy to change a diaper in his life.

"Wait, is Andy not going to work?" Emily asked. She didn't teach ballet on Fridays, so it had felt like Saturday to her at first.

Sharon shook her head. "They're a little slow at work, and he, uh, is trying to burn through some of his days off since he's getting close to retirement."

Emily raised a suspicious eyebrow. "I thought you guys got reimbursed for unused time when you retired."

Sharon thought fast. "He, um, still has a lot of days, and today it was just worth it to stay home."

Emily wrinkled her nose. "I'm just going to take your word for it. I haven't had enough coffee—it's too early to be grossed out." She looked out the window and sipped her coffee. "Ugh, I wish 'it's storming' were a reason to cancel a pediatrician appointment. I guess this is what I get for being a few weeks late on her two-year wellness visit."

Sharon's ears perked up. "What time is her appointment?"

"I need to get her dressed and leave soon after breakfast… _Ew_ , Mom, don't look so excited! Gross."

Sharon quickly schooled her features, or tried to, anyway. She wasn't sure how successful she was.

An hour later, Emily and Marie were gone, and Sharon gave Andy an expectant look and nodded toward their bedroom. The storm was still howling outside, and she was more than ready to slip back into bed. Andy feigned ignorance. "I think I'll catch up on some laundry since I have the day off."

Sharon shrugged and gave him a coy half-smile. "You won't need _any_ clothes if you come with me, but suit yourself."

They both looked up at the ceiling as the lights flickered off. A crash of thunder sounded outside, and a streak of lightning flashed across the window. Yeah, the power would probably be out for a good while. Andy pretended to look like he was deep in thought. " _What_ will we find to do now?"

Sharon took his hand and led him out of the kitchen. "I have some thoughts on that."

 **4–"You're so perfect, and I'm so fucking lucky."**

Sharon soaked in a bath with a glass of wine early one Friday evening, listening to music and enjoying having a little time to herself. Rusty was visiting Ricky for the weekend and wasn't coming back until Monday, and Andy was picking up takeout for dinner and coming over after work. Major Crimes had been a little slow that week, so she'd worked from home and had gotten offline a little early. After being in the bath long enough for her to drain it a little and add more hot water because it had cooled down twice, she decided it was time to get out. She sang along to her phone and sipped her wine as she took her time drying herself off and slipping into her robe.

" _It's just a matter of time_

 _Before you make up your mind  
To give all that love that you've been hiding  
It's just a question of when  
I've told you time and again  
I'll get all the love you've been denying_

 _Sooner or later, love is gonna getcha Sooner or later, girl you got to give in_

 _Sooner or later, love is gonna letcha Sooner or later, love is gonna win"_

When Andy arrived, he was barely in the door before she started kissing him. "What, no 'hello?'" He teased.

"We've been saying 'hello' for years. We've only been doing _this_ for a couple of months." They'd been kissing, in general, for longer than that, obviously, but not this kind of 'screw everything, let's go to bed' kind of kissing. Sharon took the bags from Andy one at a time and placed them on the counter behind her, somehow managing not to stop kissing him as she made the transfers. When she and Andy had finally had sex for the first time a couple of months ago, Sharon quickly realized that menopause hadn't been kind to her in that department and that adjustments needed to be made. She'd heard that could happen, but she hadn't been with a man since before menopause was a concern, so she didn't realize it was a problem until her and Andy's first encounter quickly turned painful and awkward. Despite trying different positions and Andy being as gentle as he could, it hadn't improved, so she'd made an appointment with her doctor to find out what the problem was. He had mentioned several options, but basically said that more frequent stimulation, intercourse or otherwise, could often work wonders. Now, several weeks after that suggestion, she had gradually improved and felt like she was almost over the hump. She planned to spend the majority of the weekend trying to get completely over it and would take her doctor's advice as many times as Andy was able to participate.

"You're not hungry?" Andy asked as Sharon started to lead him toward her bedroom.

"Yeah, but if we do this now, maybe we can do it again before we go to sleep. I'm sick of you handling me like I'm going to break every time we do this, I want to get back to normal as soon as I can."

"I just try not to hurt you!" Andy protested, feeling like his performance was being criticized.

"Oh, I know. I'm just ready for that to not even be an issue. I think I'm getting close, and I hope this weekend will get me there."

"Challenge accepted."

As they made their way to the bedroom, Sharon trembled when Andy's lips reached a particularly sensitive spot on her neck. He paused and slowly made his way back to it, grinning when he got the same response and a low hum. He was still finding new ones every now and then, and he always loved when he got an unexpected reaction from her. "I really like this doctor of yours, I've gotta say."

The next morning, after following doctor's orders, of course, Sharon and Andy ran a few errands and ate a late lunch before going back to the condo. Andy made sure the hall was clear before nipping at the sensitive spot on Sharon's neck he'd discovered the evening before as she unlocked the door. He loved the way she reacted to it, and he hadn't been able to leave it alone. Taken by surprise, Sharon dropped her keys. " _Seriously_ , Andy, you're going to give me a hickey if you keep that up!"

"It's your fault. The way you react to it is foreplay in itself."They'd both gotten less and less cautious in bed as Sharon gradually improved, but it had still been a while since she'd gotten an orgasm from something that was actually attached to a man. The awkwardness and discomfort she'd been experiencing, although dwindling, hadn't exactly been conducive to that. A little while later, a familiar and long overdue warmth started to surge through her, and she knew she was finally close. She knew Andy probably wouldn't last much longer, and the only thing worse than no orgasm at all was an incomplete one. "Harder, Andy, _please_ ," she panted.

Confused, Andy started to slow down. "What? Are you sure—"

" _Yes_ , I'm fine. Just do it." Sharon winced as Andy's thrusts became more powerful, but the slight pain wasn't anything she couldn't handle. She couldn't help but cry out when an overwhelming wave of pleasure pulsed through her, and Andy's expression of bewilderment had quickly turned to one of cocky satisfaction as he felt her shudder against him. He gently pulled out of her a couple of minutes later when he felt himself go flaccid, and he kissed the top of her head as she snuggled into his chest.

Andy twirled his fingers through Sharon's hair as they lay together in comfortable silence. "I hate what you've been going through, but hearing you scream like that was well worth the wait." It hadn't been much of a secret that he'd felt a little inadequate when he constantly failed to get her off.

Sharon smoothed her hand down Andy's side. "I know, right? Even _sex_ is sexist… _And_ ageist, come to think of it."

Now that Sharon was getting close to being back to normal and they'd finally found their rhythm, she and Andy couldn't get enough of each other. They spent the rest of the weekend following doctor's orders in various places of the condo, and the times where the one small sexual problem reserved for men became an issue, Andy just switched media, which was also a new development in their relationship.

Needless to say, they were both exhausted by Sunday night. Sharon's voice was a little hoarse, no doubt from the uncharacteristic screaming Andy had elicited from her for most of the weekend, but it was more than worth it. Several years ago, when she'd suspected she was in the beginning stages of menopause and started reading about it, she'd been surprised to find out that it caused some women to have an increased sex drive. Everything she'd ever heard about it suggested the opposite. She was even more surprised to discover that she was one of them, but that hadn't really worked in her favor until just recently. Unfortunately, most urges occurred in the middle of the night, and even when Andy was staying over, she'd never woken him up to give her a hand. This time, when a nagging pulsing pulled her out of sleep, she propped herself up on her elbow and tapped Andy's shoulder. "Andy?….Andy!"

"Hmph," Andy mumbled, not opening his eyes.

Sharon tapped him more insistently. " _Andy_."

Andy jerked awake and squinted up at her. "What? You okay?"

"Yeah. I just wanted to, you know…uh, can we…" Sharon finally stopped beating around the bush and started kissing him. That was the _last_ thing Andy had expected, but he wasn't complaining and happily complied.

The next morning, Sharon stumbled into the bathroom and started the shower when her alarm went off. She was brushing out her wet hair when what appeared to be a discolored, nasty-looking bruise on her neck caught her eye. Where the _hell_ had that come from—"Andrew James Flynn!" She yelled as she wrapped a towel around herself and went back into her bedroom. "I _told_ you this was going to happen!" It must've happened during their middle-of-the-night encounter. She'd gone to the bathroom afterward, but she probably hadn't looked at herself in the mirror.

"Whaaaaaaaat?" Andy moaned from under the covers. "I don't have to to get up for thirty more minutes! _Why_ are you middle-naming me at the crack of dawn?! I like the way you woke me up last night better." He sat up and looked at her, and his gaze immediately went to the finger she was pointing at her neck. His face twisted into a guilty grimace as he raised himself to his knees on the bed and tilted her chin so he could get a better look at it. "Shit, Sharon, I'm sorry."

"You're _sorry_? _Sorry_ isn't going to cover this up!" Sharon pulled his hand away from her face in exasperation. "There's nothing to look at, Andy, it's a hickey, plain and simple."

After experimenting with her various concealers and powders, Sharon managed to mostly cover it up. Andy was stepping out of the shower as she was carefully applying concealer, and he couldn't help but chuckle at the image of her trying to disguise a hickey. Sharon caught his eye in the mirror as he dried himself off and hanged his towel on the door. "This isn't fun—" She didn't get very far in her reprimand before dissolving into giggles, herself. Having Andy standing in her bathroom, naked as the day he was born and not giving it a second thought, while she tried to hide the evidence of their intimacy from the night before was too much for her. "I'm 56 years old, and I have a fucking hickey."

Andy grinned and kissed the top of her head. "I think it's pretty hot."

Someone would probably have to be looking for it to notice it, but she was still paranoid about it, so Sharon dug through her winter clothes for a turtleneck. LA never got cold enough during the day for them, but she found one that was thin enough to not be too miserably hot. Andy cast a suffering look in her direction. "I don't like turtlenecks."

Sharon rolled her eyes. "Not enough cleavage?"

"Exactly."

When they got to work, Provenza was already there and rolled his eyes so hard at their same-time arrival that Sharon was afraid they were going to stay that way. "Morning, Lieutenant."

"Morning, Captain…Are you sick?" Sharon quickly shook her head and made a quick escape to her office. Provenza gave Andy a look. "What's the turtleneck about? If I didn't know better, I'd think you gave the Captain a love bite."

"Laundry day. Don't be ridiculous, we're not teenagers. I think I know how to avoid those by now."

Around lunchtime, Andy poked his head into Sharon's office. "Want to go get something to eat?"

Sharon shook her head. "Sorry, honey, I'm meeting Janet for lunch. Rain check?"

Andy pretended to look appalled. "You're getting lunch with one of your friends instead of me, whom you see every day?! Uncalled for."

Sharon gave him a playful look. "If you're really upset about it, I could make it up to you later."

Andy grinned. "In that case, I'm fucking pissed. I'll need _lots_ of making up."

Sharon pressed her face into his shoulder. "If _one_ more person asks me if I'm sick, I'm going to lose my damn mind. I can't exactly say 'no, I just had toe-curling sex with my boyfriend all weekend.' My voice and need for a turtleneck are both _entirely_ your fault, by the way."

Andy shrugged. "You can't blame that on me. You're so perfect. And I'm so fucking lucky. That's all you."


	12. Chapter 12

**Liberties have been taken with characterization, and I conveniently ignored the fact that I'm sure there are cameras all through the LAPD :)**

 **"You look really cute in that"**

Andy looked up from his desk as Sharon entered the murder room. "Hey, how was dinner?"

"It was good. I'm glad you were still here, it took a while, and Linda was in a hurry to get home. We were just a couple of blocks away, so this was faster than her taking me home." Rusty's car was in the shop, so he was driving Sharon's for the day, and her friend from church had picked her up so they could go to dinner.

Sharon perched on the edge of Andy's desk and crossed her legs as he finished up. "Have you missed this place at all?" He asked.

Sharon shrugged as she looked around the murder room. "Parts of it. Like sitting right here, for one."

Andy nodded. "I miss you sitting there, too. And looking down your blouse when I stood up. And the little notes you used to leave on my desk. And Provenza's grumbling when his crossword puzzle spaces weren't working out because you'd filled some of the spaces with words that gross him out. Workplace quality has _certainly_ gone downhill."

Sharon rolled her eyes, but she couldn't help the giggle that escaped. "Being here without being in charge or responsible for anything _does_ make me miss the good parts, but I don't miss the politics or headache one bit. I was honestly so tired of the rules by the end, I just wanted to run naked down the halls, screaming, with my hair on fire."

Andy grinned. "Now, _there's_ an image...Just do it. Without the 'hair on fire' part, of course. No one's here but us."

"Yeah, because _that_ was the only obstacle to that plan."

"Hey, when will you ever get the chance to do this again?"

Sharon blamed it on the wine from dinner, but it was actually starting to sound kind of fun. And seemed to be a perfect, although belated, fare-thee-well to the LAPD. "I can't believe I'm doing this. Unzip me?"

"With pleasure." Andy unzipped her and unhooked her bra as she shimmied out of her dress and panties and stepped out of her shoes.

"This already feels wrong," Sharon noted, feeling extremely out of place standing stark naked in the middle of the murder room.

"Maybe you should just stand there until the feeling passes," Andy suggested. "I certainly won't complain. You look really cute in that, by the way."

Sharon rolled her eyes again. "I'm not _wearing_ anything."

"Exactly."

"Andy!" Sharon swatted his arm. "You're impossible." She looked toward the door. "I better go ahead and do this before I chicken out."

"I am _all_ eyes." Andy followed her out to the hall, not believing that this was about to happen.

Sharon took a deep breath and looked down the hall. "All right, here goes." She sprinted down the hall, screaming as loudly as she could until she got to the end. It was oddly exhilarating, and a sense of satisfaction and relief surged through her as she caught her breath. The scene was even better than Andy expected, and she reached the end of the hall far too soon for his liking.

"Nuh-uh, do it again," Andy called as Sharon started to walk back. "I want to enjoy it from both sides. And maybe a little more slowly this time?"

Sharon just shook her head. Men. It _had_ been fun, though, so she complied. Arm positioned protectively over her breasts again to avoid the pain that comes with running without adequate support, she ran back down the hall, a little more slowly, per his request, screaming at the top of her lungs. "Oh, that was great."

"No arguments, here. I'm sorry I couldn't accommodate the 'hair on fire' part." Andy couldn't help but laugh at the image of Sharon wearing nothing but her wedding rings and diamond stud earrings, with her face a little flushed and hair disheveled from running naked down the ninth floor hallway. "This is something I _never_ thought I'd see. I never would've thought you were so intimidating if I could've seen you like this...Or if I knew Darth Raydor drooled in her sleep."

Sharon rolled her eyes. "I do _not_ drool...But you are starting to make me want to go to sleep early tonight."

"Please, there's no way that bed can make you feel as good as I can."

Sharon shrugged. "I think you're overestimating yourself. You clearly don't know what it's like to get in a bed with clean sheets out of the dryer and shaved legs. That's a hard act to follow."

Andy chuckled. "No, I can honestly say I don't."


	13. Chapter 13

**9–"My head hurts."—2019**

Sharon looked up from her book and smiled when the porch door opened and Andy appeared. She adjusted her perch in the swing so he could sit beside her. "Hey, how was your day?"

"Long. Shit ton of paperwork… _Damn_ it, I meant to get some Advil before I came out here."

Sharon gave Andy a sidelong look. "What's the matter?"

"My head hurts."

"Again?" Sharon briefly placed her hand on his shoulder before gliding her fingers back and forth over the back of his neck. He'd complained of a headache a couple of times a week for the last several weeks. She'd noticed other tell-tale signs that he might need glasses, but Andy had made excuses and shot her down every time she tried to bring it up. "I'll go get you some." Sharon went inside and returned with a couple of tablets in her hand and a glass of water.

"Thanks, babe."

Later that night, Sharon got out of the bathtub and started her pre-bedtime routine. She was brushing her teeth when she heard Andy fumbling around in the bedroom, and she poked her head into the doorway from the bathroom. "Will you grab a nightgown for me, please?" Well, that was what she'd _intended_ to say. It came out more like _woo gra nurgow plee_. Andy's increased ability to understand her open-mouthed gibberish was starting to rival that of her dentist. Between teeth-brushing and, well, _other_ things that sometimes kept her mouth occupied, Andy was becoming fluent in her unintelligible blabber. He tossed her one when she stepped back into the room, and she shook her head. "No, not that one."

"Why not? I like this one. You haven't slept in it in a while."

"Yeah, because the top isn't tight enough to be that low-cut. I always wake up in the morning with at least one breast hanging out."

Andy nodded. "Exactly."

" _Andy_!" Sharon tugged another nightgown over her head, turned down the bed, and got her rosary out of her nightstand drawer before slipping between the sheets. Andy joined her with his book, and she noticed him leaning more closely to it than should've been necessary. She put her hand on his arm. "It wouldn't hurt to get your eyes checked," she gently suggested.

Andy let out an exasperated sigh. "Jesus, Sharon, the overhead light is off. These lamps are a little dim. My eyes are fine."

"You didn't have to lean so close to your book at night just a few months ago," Sharon pointed out.

"What are you doing, watching my every move?!"

"No, I'd just rather you prevent a problem from getting worse." Sharon turned on her side and propped herself up on her elbow. "What exactly do you have against glasses, anyway?"

"Nothing! I'll just feel old—I mean—I'll look old—I mean—that's—I—" Andy sputtered as Sharon gave him a warning look. She knew what he meant, she just loved to watch him stick his foot in his mouth. She hadn't been so thrilled about the idea of glasses when she'd realized she needed them, either.

Sharon did her best to maintain her icy glare. "Oh, so I look old? Good to know."

"No! You know I didn't mean that. I just don't think I'll like how I look in them…I'm not exactly crazy about people messing with my eyes, either," Andy admitted.

"I wasn't, either, but it's not that bad…And you're wrong about how you'd look in glasses. I've actually, um, wondered about that before."

Andy raised an eyebrow. "Wondered? Or _fantasized_?"

Sharon shrugged. "Why does it matter? You said you don't need them, and I believe you."

Andy looked thoughtful for a moment. "Yeah, I'm making an appointment tomorrow…You know, it's a good thing you're retired. This must be why your targets were always better than mine when we went down to the range for our qualifying rounds."

Sharon shook her head. "Awww, you think eyesight had anything to do with mine being better? That's cute." She smiled to herself as she turned back to her rosary. How had she not thought of this approach before?

A couple of weeks later, Sharon was cooking dinner when she felt Andy's arms wrapped around her waist. She turned around to kiss him, but yelped and jumped back against the counter when the first thing she saw was a pair of glasses. "Andy! You scared me…" Sharon's words trailed off as she swept an approving gaze over his new appearance. He looked even better than she would've thought, and a shiver went down her spine. Dinner was suddenly the _last_ thing on her mind.

"Sorry…What do you think?"

"That I didn't know it was possible to nearly have an orgasm just by looking at someone."

Andy reached around Sharon and switched off the stove. "Yeah, dinner can wait."

 **47–"I can take care of myself just fine."**

 **This isn't completely canon-compliant. :)**

"That all your money and your power and your position can't make up for the self-entitled, conceited little… oh!" Sharon knew the punch was coming, and she braced her jaw closed and shifted her weight to the balls of her feet. She'd had enough training to know that minimizing head movement would help avoid a concussion, so she concentrated on keeping her neck still and moved her whole body around with her head. She held on to the table as she tried to catch her breath and compose herself. It didn't hurt right away, and she could tell she was a little in shock, despite being prepared for the blow. She was a little dazed as Provenza turned her toward him and looked at her face. When the door to the interview room flew open and slammed against the wall, she knew it was Andy who had entered the room without looking up, and Amy was close behind. She also knew she had to find her voice in time to keep FID out of their hair, because damn it if Andy didn't have the asshole against the wall. " _No_ , Andy, let him go," she said as forcefully as she could manage. She was relieved when he backed off, but she was irritated that he hadn't stayed in the electronics room, knowing he wouldn't be able to control his anger with the suspect. The others were more than enough to keep the suspect restrained, and rushing in and risking getting himself into trouble just because he was angry was something they were going to have a talk about in her office in the next few days. For now, she just wanted the suspect out of her line of vision and some ice on her face, so she brought the back-and-forth snipping to a halt. "Anyway, you're under arrest."

With the others handling the suspect, Andy carefully pulled Sharon into a brief hug, not caring who was watching. He thought the tension he felt from her had to do with the suspect until she resisted and pulled back from him when he gently grasped her wrist and tried to pull her hand away from her cheek. "Nothing's broken, Andy, it'll just be bruised and a little swollen."

"Let me see—"

"I'm okay. I can take care of myself just fine." She was admittedly a little dizzy, and her eyes were watering and blurring her vision. How her glasses had remained intact and on her face was a mystery to her.

"I know you can, but it's okay to accept help every now and then. Let's get you some ice."

"'Kay. I need to find Hobbs first." Sharon left the murder room with Andy, and they found Andrea and Rusty not far from the door. Rusty looked traumatized, so she gave his shoulder a reassuring squeeze. "Don't worry, honey, I'm okay." She took a deep breath, still a little disoriented and short of breath. "So, Andrea, assault on a police officer… that gives you enough to hold him while we make a deal, correct?"

Andrea nodded. "If the Tesla turns out to be what you guys think it is."

Andy wrapped an arm around Sharon's shoulder and led her toward the break room. "Now we're getting her some ice."

The pain was starting to hit her full force, and Sharon lowered herself into a chair, took her glasses off, and pressed her forehead into the heel of her hand. A few moments later, she felt Andy's hand under her chin and tilting her face up. He examined her cheek for a minute before holding an ice pack to the affected area. "I know it's going to be a little more swollen and bruised after a while, but it's not as bad as I thought. You take a punch pretty good."

Sharon shrugged. "It wasn't my first time, and I was prepared for it."

"So, you remember what happened? Did you black out at all, or see stars or spots in front of you—"

" _Stop_ , Andy, I don't have a concussion."

"Will you humor me, please? You know you'd be doing the same thing to me." Sharon sighed, but she answered his laundry list of questions about her birthday, hometown, children's names, and other basic facts. "And who made you scream so loudly in bed last week that you were afraid the neighbors might call 911?"

"Oh, you know about John?" Sharon deadpanned.

"Ha, ha." Andy examined her pupils for a moment before Fritz poked his head into the break room.

"Captain? Are you all right?"

Sharon nodded. "Just a little bruised and sore. Nothing a little ice and rest won't fix."

"The rest of the team is going to search the Tesla. There's nothing to do until they report back—why don't you guys head home for the day?"

"I plan to," Sharon agreed. "Thanks, Chief."

"No problem. Get some rest."

Once Fritz was gone, Andy held up his index finger. "Last thing, and I'll leave you alone, I promise."

"I'll believe _that_ when I see it," Sharon muttered, but she obediently followed Andy's finger from side to side with her eyes. When he was satisfied, he offered his hand to help her up. "Meet me at the elevators? I'll get your things out of your office, and Rusty and I will get your car later."

"Sounds good."

By the time Andy had gotten his and Sharon's things, he was worried when she wasn't waiting in front of the elevators. She may have gotten sidetracked by Fritz or Andrea, but his mind was assuming the worst. He was about to panic and run back to the break room when he heard the familiar clack of her heels coming down the hall. "Where _were_ you?" Andy asked, a little more forcefully than he intended.

"Relax, Andy, I had to go to the restroom. Today hasn't exactly been pee break-friendly for me."

"Right. Sorry." Andy pushed the button to call the elevator. "I wish you'd let me take you to a walk-in clinic, just to make sure—"

Sharon shook her head. "I'm fine. I just want to go home."

When they got to the condo, Sharon changed into leggings and one of Andy's Dodgers sweatshirts. The February afternoon had turned dreary and a little chilly, and with her bra off, hair pulled back, and her glasses safely in their case, she was more than ready to curl up on the couch with a movie and her favorite blanket. Andy met her on the couch with a couple of tablets of Tylenol and a glass of water. "Thanks, honey." She swallowed the pills and took a few sips of water before lying down on the couch. The throbbing, tingling pain in her face had settled down to a dull, uncomfortable ache, but the past couple of sleepless nights were announcing themselves loud and clear. With _The Bridges of Madison County_ in the DVD player, she knew she'd be napping in no time. Unfortunately, Andy seemed to read her mind. "Are you drowsy? Do you feel lethargic? That could be—"

"Due to the fact that I haven't slept in a couple of days," Sharon cut him off. Her expression softened, and she reached over to squeeze his hand. She knew he was just worried, like she would've been if it were him in her place. It just irritated her to be the one being taken care of, but that wasn't Andy's fault. "Tell you what. You have my permission to wake me up in an hour and ask me as many unnecessary questions as you want. I won't be grouchy."

Andy snorted and gave her an _are you kidding me_ look. She could function off of no sleep like nothing he'd ever seen before, but once she was asleep, he was taking his life into his hands if he woke her up.

"I'll _try_ not to be grouchy," Sharon amended.

"That'll work." Andy kissed her forehead, careful to avoid any painful areas, and tucked the blanket around her shoulders. Seeing that she was comfortable, he went to the kitchen to start dinner.

When Sharon woke up again, she could smell Andy's vegetarian pasta that she loved cooking and hear the familiar music of the end credits of the movie. She rubbed her eyes and stumbled into the kitchen, more from the absence of her glasses than anything else. Andy's back was to her, and she wrapped her arms around his waist and rested the non-injured side of her face against his back. Andy lay his arms on top of hers. "Hey, you feeling a little better?"

"Yeah—you didn't wake me up, did you?"

Andy turned around and leaned down to kiss her. "Nah. I thought about it a couple of times, but you looked so peaceful."

"I'm sorry I'm not the best patient."

Andy shook his head. "Don't worry about it. I know you well enough to know I should've backed off a little. That guy just pissed me off, and I've never seen you hurt at all, and it was—uh—"

"Impulsive. I know."

Andy kissed the top of her head. "Dinner will be ready in about half an hour. Why don't you take a bath, and I'll have some tea ready for you when you get out? You need to get some ice back on your face, too."

Sharon stood on her tiptoes to peck his cheek. "Perfect."


	14. Chapter 14

**I** **apologize in advance for the rushed-through beginning–crime content never interests me, and I didn't want to spend much time on it.**

 **45– "Please don't shut me out."**

 **March 2018**

Sharon sighed in relief when the struggle was over and she could see on the screen that the suspects were just about immobilized…Wait a minute, one of them was missing. After a quick headcount of her team, she quickly realized that one of her own was also missing. "You guys, where's Detective Sykes?" She asked through her mouthpiece, but they were all focusing on getting the ones they had handcuffed and making petty remarks back and forth. Sharon moved closer to the screen, like that would help anything, but saw no sign of Amy, and she was just now realizing that she hadn't heard from her in a while and that her audio equipment might not be working properly. Of course she could still see the house where the child they had been too late to save still was, but not someone she still had a chance of protecting. The boy had been the last of several casualties in this case, and Sharon wasn't trying to add anymore to that list. " _Where_ is Sykes?" She demanded again, to no avail. "You _guys_ , where the fucking hell is Amy?!" Sharon screamed in a highly uncharacteristic outburst, finally getting the attention of her team. They frantically looked around, and Tao spotted her on the ground a good bit behind them. Sharon normally would've giggled at hearing Mike mutter "shit the bed" under his breath, but she was overcome with fear when she saw Amy struggling with a rogue suspect. Mike and the others hurried toward her, and Sharon winced as her head was being banged against hard concrete in her struggle to keep him from getting his gun. Sharon had seen her team in peril before, but this was the worst so far. Watching from the safety of PAB was supposedly a "perk" of being a commanding officer, but sending her team into dangerous situations while she watched helplessly on a screen was one of the most unfavorable parts of her job. "If _anyone_ has a clear shot—"

"I've got it, ma'am," Mike assured her.

Sharon felt herself go limp with relief, and she dropped into a chair as Mike pulled the suspect off of Amy and apprehended his gun while Julio grabbed Amy's handcuffs and cuffed him.

With the suspects finally in custody, Sharon had to tie up some loose ends before she could leave, so she was the last to arrive at the hospital. By the time she got there, Amy was already in a room, and the rest of the team was sitting around and talking.

"Here come the shoulder squeeze and the pillow-fluffing," Mike murmured when Sharon came in.

"Hi, everyone," Sharon greeted warmly, ignoring Mike's comment. Unfortunately, this wasn't her first rodeo with having one of her team members in the hospital, and they'd all had their turns as the patient at one point or another. She walked over to Amy and gave her shoulder a gentle squeeze. "How are you feeling? Are you comfortable?" Provenza was speaking the words in unison with her, but she'd never let on before that she always heard them when they spoke along with her or quietly announced to each other what she was about to do. This scenario had happened enough times for her words and actions to be predictable by now.

Amy nodded. "They gave me the good stuff…But ribs still hurt a little bit."

"Ugh, broken ribs are the worst," Sharon sympathized. "Let me get you a couple of—"

"Pillows." Julio was standing right behind her when she turned around with pillows in his arms.

Sharon rolled her eyes. "At least one of you is finally helping me out a little bit while making fun of me… _Yes_ , I always hear you," she said when their smirks turned to looks of panic.

Andy shrugged. "Hey, who needs medical professionals when you're around to cure us with excessive pillows?"

Sharon ignored him and turned her attention to arranging the pillows behind Amy and adjusting the incline of her bed. "Is Chuck staying with you tonight? They're just keeping you overnight for observation, right?"

Amy nodded. "He wanted to come now, but I need some things from my apartment. I really just want a shower. And I should be able to go home by noon tomorrow as long as nothing changes."

"None of us are at our personal best right now," Sharon agreed. She, herself was still wearing the same clothes from the day before and hadn't had a shower in almost 48 hours, and the others were in similar shape. It was more obvious for the men, with the evidence of a couple of days without a razor on their faces. The critical missing of a four-year-old boy had given them even more urgency than normal to solve the case, and they'd barely paused to eat in the last couple of days, much less to do anything else. "Can I get you anything?"

"Do you have anything for a bruised ego?" Julio asked, speaking as a typical man and using humor to mask the emotion of the situation. "She's still pissed that she let that little twerp pin her down. He must've blindsided her before she could react, otherwise she would've kicked his ass, no contest."

"I do _not_ —yeah, you're right," Amy admitted. "That probably hurts more than anything."

"Well, if _that's_ the biggest problem, I don't think there's much to worry about." Sharon eyed the thermos of water on the table beside Amy's bed and handed it to her. "Drink some water. Andy said you were a little dehydrated, and you haven't had any since I got here."

"You've barely been here for five min—okay," Amy conceded. It was faster to just obey.

A little while later, Sharon was the last to leave. She sat on the edge of the bed and put her hand over Amy's. "I'm sorry this happened, Amy."

"You don't need to apologize. It's just the job. It's not like I didn't know from the beginning what I was getting myself into."

Sharon lightly squeezed her hand. "I'll let you get some rest, but let me know if I can do anything for you. I can stop by in the morning if you need something."

Later that night, Andy was asleep before his head hit the pillow. Sharon also should've been, as she hadn't had more than few-minute naps here and there for the last couple of days, but now that she knew Amy was okay, all she could think about was the four-year-old who had been killed on her watch. Andy's steady breathing and occasional snores beside her were infuriating. She wished she could shake off the last few days and fall asleep as easily as he could, but despite being exhausted, her mind was in overdrive. Her heart ached for the little boy. He'd reminded her so much of Ricky, and the image of him was haunting her. How frightened and confused he must've been. Murder always hurt her heart, obviously, but the cases that hit her hard enough to send her to her therapist's office always involved children. She'd been relieved in her early LAPD days when she'd gotten promoted out of patrol, bringing an end to dealing with child abuse and neglect and pulling children out of crashed cars just for them to die in her arms. She'd liked the change of pace that had come with Major Crimes and the satisfaction of affecting the community more directly than she felt she was doing in FID, but it had also meant that she was once again frequently exposed to the darkest corners of humanity. She'd had enough of it, and she'd never been so happy to be less than a month away from retirement.

Giving up on sleep for the time being, Sharon quietly slipped out of bed and pulled a sweatshirt over her head. After getting a glass of wine for the first time in a few days, she grabbed a blanket from the living room and went outside to sit by the pool. The March night was chilly, and her red wine warmed her from the inside as she stretched out in a lounge chair, draped the soft, lilac-colored blanket over herself, and sipped the soothing liquid. She listened to the sounds of various animals in the nearby woods in the otherwise quiet and still night. She'd definitely missed this after moving to the condo, and it was one of the things she was enjoying the most about being back in a house. The full moon lit up the yard, and its reflection shimmered in the pool water. The calming atmosphere was helping Sharon to finally relax, which she knew would lead to a good, cleansing cry. She'd been too tense for that until now, and it was just what she needed to move on.

Sharon hadn't been stretched out by the pool for very long before she heard the door from the porch close and saw Andy coming down the steps. "The hell are you doing? It's after midnight," he mumbled, gently nudging her over and squeezing into her chair beside her.

"Couldn't sleep." Sharon curled into him, grateful for the extra warmth, but she wished he'd go back inside. Crying was a solo activity, and she could already feel a lump in her throat and her eyes starting to well up.

"Couldn't sleep? I was sleeping like a log until I heard the alarm beep when you opened the door." They'd been in the new house for a couple of weeks, now, and they were still adjusting to the new rhythms and sounds, like the brief chirping of the alarm system every time a door opened.

"You were _sawing_ some logs, too," Sharon muttered.

"Why didn't you hit me and tell me to shut the hell up like you usually do?"

Sharon shrugged. "That's not really what was keeping me up." Tears were pricking at her eyes as she relaxed against Andy, not for the first time that week. She furiously blinked them away, and a quick wipe of her eyes held them off for the time being. Damn it, she'd come out here so she could have a good cry, clear her head, and hopefully finally fall asleep. She'd only cried in front of Andy a couple of times, but those times hadn't been anything close to the ugly sobbing that was about to ensue. "I'm fine, Andy, I just need a few minutes to myself."

Andy usually respected her space when she asked for it, and she didn't request to be left alone that often, but he knew how much the case had bothered her and didn't like the thought of her sitting out here by herself in the middle of the night. Or of shouldering so much emotion alone. "I'm not going anywhere, Sharon."

"Andy, please—"

"No, Sharon, _you_ please. _Please_ don't shut me out."

Sharon couldn't stop the tears from flowing this time, and Andy's arm wrapped firmly around her confirmed that he wasn't leaving. She was too tired to resist him and melted into his side, no longer trying to keep her tears at bay. Andy stroked her hair with one hand and rubbed her back with the other. He rested his chin on top of her head and wordlessly held her as sobs wracked her body, causing her to shake against him. By the time her sobs were slowing down to sniffles and hiccups, Andy's pajama top was drenched with her tears. She smoothed her fingers over the wet spot and gave him an apologetic look. "Sorry."

Andy pressed a slow, soft kiss to her forehead. "It's all right. I think I'll manage."

Sharon shifted against Andy and sipped her wine as he adjusted the blanket over her. She could've stayed outside and enjoyed the atmosphere of the back yard all night, but she was finally getting drowsy and starting to feel like she could calm her thoughts enough to fall asleep. She drained her wine glass and started to get up, and Andy offered her a hand and laced his fingers through hers once they were both on their feet. "You think you can get some sleep now?"

Sharon draped the blanket over her arm and lay against his shoulder. "Yeah. Let's go to bed."

 **Coffee date**

When Sharon arrived at the church for Nicole's wedding, she politely waved off the ushers and slipped into one of the back pews. She watched as the ushers led other guests in once she was seated, and it didn't take long at all for her to pick out Andy's son. His eyes and smile were a dead giveaway. Now that she was at the wedding, she was getting nervous about what Andy's ex-wife and family were going to think about her being there. What the hell had she been thinking when she invited herself to Nicole's wedding? She did enjoy going to weddings, and her family members, friends' children, and Emily's and Ricky's close high school friends had taken a break on the wedding front lately, so it had been a while since she'd been to one. An evening of a little wine, good music, and dancing had sounded perfect at the time. Sharon had heard bits and pieces of Andy's and Provenza's conversations about the wedding, and while she hoped Andy wouldn't be stupid and skip it for his own sake, her ears had pricked up when she heard Provenza mutter something about not believing Andy was considering passing up a chance to take over the dance floor. She'd never really thought much about Andy, non-work-wise, and the idea of him liking to dance surprised her. She was starting to drive herself crazy, so she finally pushed it to the back of her mind and enjoyed the familiar hymns being played from the organ.

Once the bridal party was in place and everyone followed Nicole's mom's lead and stood up as Nicole entered, Sharon sneaked a peek at Andy. He looked happy, and she was glad he'd decided to participate in the wedding. He would've regretted it if he didn't.

When the wedding was over, Sharon ran a couple of errands and took her time getting to the reception. The original plan had been to ride with Andy from the church, but when she thought about the fact that they'd be taking pictures for a while after the service, she'd told him she would meet him at the reception. She wasn't sure if he'd told anyone yet he was bringing a friend, or if he had, what exactly he had said about her, so she wasn't trying to hang around the sanctuary. When she arrived at the reception, she draped her wrap over her arm and placed her keys in her clutch. The temperature had dipped below 70 degrees, and the outdoor venue would probably get a little chilly once the sun went down.

Sharon felt a little awkward walking into a sea of total strangers, but she ran into one of her college friends on her way to the bar. They hadn't completely lost touch over the years, but they'd seen each other less and less as they grew older and gradually built new lives for themselves. "Jill!" Sharon approached her from behind and lightly grabbed her arm.

"Wha—Sharon!" Jill set her drink down on a nearby table and gave her a hug. "I didn't know you knew Nicole and Dean."

Sharon shook her head. "I don't, really. I work with Nicole's dad, and they've had some drama over the wedding this week. He didn't want to come at all, and he was still nervous when he _did_ decide to come. I'm not sure what the hell I was thinking when I offered to come with him."

Jill raised an eyebrow. "Are you guys—"

" _No_ , we're not dating. Andy's ideal woman is about half my age, and you know good and well I couldn't care less about dating."

Jill shrugged. "It's just as well. The older you get, the more you realize that if you want to get off, you'll likely have to do it your own damn self, anyway. You, my friend, need a drink."

"Jill!" Sharon laughed helplessly. She hadn't changed one bit. "What are you drinking? That looks pretty good."

"I'm not sure, but it's too good to be anything but trouble—rum and…something. It's not as fruity as it it looks. Here, taste it."

Sharon accepted the glass and took a small sip. "Ooh, that _is_ good." She got the same drink for herself and went with Jill to find her husband. "How do you know Nicole and Dean?"

"Dean's parents have lived next door to us since he was about three. He and my boys were close in age, and he practically lived at our house growing up. My brats are around here somewhere, we'll find them later."

By the time Andy arrived, Sharon was a couple of drinks in, and she'd just made the wise decision to switch to wine. She knew she should slow down, but she figured they'd be dancing later, and she would stop then. The pleasant weather and the good music playing had made those first couple of drinks go down a little too fast. With trying to wrap the case earlier that day, she hadn't eaten much lunch, so she was compensating now with a plate of hors d'oeuvres. Dinner was served soon after that, and then the band began to play.

After the traditional first dances were complete, Andy grabbed Sharon's hand and led her to the dance floor. She loved to dance, but she usually needed a little liquid courage, especially this early when not many others had ventured to the dance floor yet. Andy clearly needed nothing of the sort. He guided her around with sure and steady arms, and dear _god_ she had missed this.

 _With other girls I've wanted I've made it just a moment With you I'll share each day Now I know you've heard about me Bad things about me, baby, please let me explain Oh, I have kissed a few I tell you, a few have kissed me too I guess I'm just a stubborn kind of fellow Got my mind made up to love you_

"Eyes up here, Andy," Sharon playfully chided when she caught his gaze drifting a little lower than it should. Her breasts did look damn good in this dress, if she did say so herself.

"Oh! I wasn't—I was—uhh…Sorry." Sharon giggled at the guilty expression on his face. The music slowed down a couple of songs later, and Andy pulled back from Sharon, not wanting to make her uncomfortable. "Want to take a break?"

Sharon moved a little closer to him. "Maybe after this one…Unless you need to go talk to any of the guests?"

Andy shook his head. "No, I just didn't want to keep you from anything. I wasn't expecting you to know anyone here."

"I wasn't, either. Jill and I have been friends since college, and Dean grew up next door to her and her husband. Small world, isn't it?" Sharon relaxed in Andy's arms, trying her best to ignore the stirrings his cologne and warm breath against her face were creating inside of her.

 _She's got a way about her I don't know what it is But I know that I can't live without her She's got a way of pleasin' I don't know what it is But there doesn't have to be a reason, anyway She's got a smile that heals me I don't know why it is But I have to laugh when she reveals me She's got a way of talkin' I don't know what it is But it lifts me up when we are walkin' anywhere_

The next song was a little after their time and had drawn Nicole, her bridesmaids, and a few other guests who were clearly friends of hers to the dance floor, so Sharon and Andy took that as their cue to leave for the time being. Andy got stopped by someone to talk, and Sharon snagged Jill. "I have to pee. Come with me?"

"Okay, I could go, too." Jill give Andy a sidelong, appreciative look as they walked by him. "I didn't pay him much attention during the wedding, but he is _hot_."

"Stop!" Sharon insisted. "He's one of my lieutenants, I don't think of him like that!"

"How could you _not_?! Did you see the way he was looking at you?"

Sharon rolled her eyes. "And how exactly was that?"

"Like you were sex on a plate."

"He was not!"

When they were finished in the restroom, Jill watched Andy out of the corner of her eye as they walked by him again. "You're out of your mind. He just looked at you like he would take you right here if there weren't other people around."

"Whatever. I'm getting more wine."

A little while later, after being on and off of the dance floor, Sharon found that she was enjoying being with Andy more and more. Whether it was Andy, specifically, or a man she was having fun with, in general, that she was enjoying, she didn't know, but that determination would have to wait until the next day. Maybe she'd give her friends the green light to start setting her up again after the situation with Rusty was resolved. For now, slowly swaying in Andy's arms felt wonderful, but she'd have to wait until she was a little more sober to convince herself that this wouldn't be a good idea.

Sharon was feeling drowsy after a while, and she couldn't keep her words from slurring as she talked to Andy. She noticed that the band was packing up and that people seemed to be leaving, which was odd. It seemed like they'd just eaten dinner. Andy was laughing, and she suddenly had the feeling that he was laughing at her. She forgot all about that suspicion when she shivered from the cool air, and he draped his jacket over her shoulders. "I think it's time to go. Is that your, um, bag?" Andy asked, nodding at her clutch lying on a nearby table.

"It's a _clutch_ ," Sharon corrected him. She swayed a little as she broke away from Andy to get it. Oh, _shit_ , she was drunk. She didn't realize just how bad it was until she tried to move by herself.

"Well, _excuse_ me," Andy responded good-naturedly.

Sharon had a feeling that she was forgetting something, but she pushed it out of her mind and let Andy lead her to his car. He opened the passenger door and helped her in, which, unfortunately, was absolutely necessary. She couldn't remember the last time she'd been this drunk. Her stomach lurched suddenly, and, in a panic, she leaned back out and threw up right at Andy's feet. "Oh, my god, Andy, I'm so sorry. I haven't done that in years."

Andy patted the top of her head and slowly stroked his fingers through her hair for a few moments. "It's all right, you're fine. I'll go see if I can find you some water. I'll be right back."

Andy returned a few minutes later after cleaning his shoes off and handed Sharon a bottle of water. After she took a few sips, he wiped her cheeks and mouth with a dampened cloth he'd snagged from the caterers that were still cleaning up. "Did it get anywhere else?" He asked, cleaning a spot on her dress before checking her hands and shoes.

Sharon shook her head. She just wanted to go home, crawl into her bed, and die from mortification. Andy tossed the cloth in a nearby garbage can, made sure Sharon was buckled in, and drove away.

Andy could tell Sharon was embarrassed, and he patted her arm. "Don't worry, Sharon. You know very well that I'm in no position to judge for this. I'm honestly glad to see you let loose a little. I just hate that you'll feel like shit tomorrow."

"Ughhhhh." Sharon found Andy's CDs, dug her glasses out of her clutch, and started looking through his collection. "Ooh, this looks good!" She slipped a Motown CD into the CD player and started singing along, seeming to have gotten a second wind. " _Maybe you'll wanna give me kisses sweet, but only for one night and no repeat. And maybe you'll go away and never call, and a taste of honey is worse than none at all._.."

They arrived at the condo a little while later, and Sharon didn't notice where they were or that the car had stopped. She was still performing. " _I_ _try so hard, hard to be patient, hoping you'll stop this infatuation.._."

Andy got out and opened her door. "All right, Diana, I think you can give the Supremes a rest. We're here."

Sharon looked startled when she realized they were at the condo. "Oh! That was fast."

Andy took her clutch from her and offered his hand. "Come on, I'll help you upstairs."

Sharon wanted to decline, but she wasn't even sure she could find her own condo in this state, much less unlock her door. Her mind was foggy, and she couldn't put a coherent thought together, other than the fact that she urgently needed to find a restroom. "'Kay. Have to pee."

Andy had only been to the condo a couple of times when she'd had the team over for Christmas and some other occasion, but he remembered there being restrooms in the lobby. He led her to the ladies' room and got her keys out of her clutch while he waited. He started to worry when Sharon didn't return a couple of minutes after he heard a toilet flush, and he was debating peeking into the ladies' room. When he heard a banging noise from inside, he tapped on the door and partially pushed it open. "Hey, Sharon? I'm coming in, okay?"

"Stupid water won't turn on," Sharon muttered. She was standing in front of one of the sinks and irritably hitting the spigot. "What the hell is wrong with this damn thing?"

Andy chuckled. "I'll help you with that." He gently pulled her hands away and held one of his hands in front of the motion sensor. "These _are_ annoying…There you go."

"Thank you." After Sharon washed her hands, they went to the elevator. Rusty was lying on the couch and watching a movie when they got upstairs, and he sat up when he heard them coming inside. He noticed Sharon's hazy demeanor and clumsy movements, first thing.

"Sharon?! What's wrong? What happened—" His first suspicion was that she was drunk, but he'd only seen her drink more than a couple of glasses of wine a few times before, and even then, it wasn't nearly enough for _this_.

"It's okay, honey. M'tired." Sharon looked at Andy. "Come pick me up in the morning to get my car, and I'll buy you coffee after."

Andy shook his head. "I'll take you to get your car, or you can give me your keys, and Provenza and I can—"

"No, Andy, m'buying you coffee," Sharon insisted.

"Okay, okay…You're the boss." Andy finally agreed after going back and forth a few times. He looked around. "You, uh, need help with anything?" Not that he was about to help her change clothes or anything, but he wasn't sure what to do.

"Fine. Thanks, Andy. Sorry."

"No worries. See you in the morning, about 10:00. We'll need to get your car before 11." Andy awkwardly stood near Sharon for a few moments before just saying goodbye to them and leaving.

Sharon said goodnight to Rusty, brushed her teeth, and did a minimal wipe over her face with a makeup wipe, which she only did in lieu of a more lengthy cleansing and moisturizing routine on nights she was really tired. There was a basket of clean laundry waiting to be folded on the chair in her bedroom, so she found a t-shirt and a pair of pajama pants to put on and collapsed into bed.

The next morning, she woke up to go to the bathroom before dawn. Her head was pounding, and her mouth tasted like something had crawled inside of it and died. The _hell_ did she do last night?! She padded down the hall to the kitchen for some Advil, and seeing her clutch on the counter reminded her of Nicole's wedding. Bits and pieces of the night before started coming back to her. _Fuuuuuuuuck_ , she'd been _highly_ overserved. She got a couple of pills and washed them down with water, then opened the refrigerator to find something to remedy the putrid taste in her mouth. She didn't know where the ginger ale and Gatorade she found had come from, but the sight was like a miracle to her dry throat and churning stomach. She got one of each without bothering to get a glass for either and went back to bed. Her phone was dinging as she climbed back under the covers, and she saw a text from Jill. _Do you feel like something kicked the crap out of you and left you for dead, or is that just me? I'm hungover like a walrus._

Sharon unlocked her phone and tapped out a response. _The goal here is NOT to vomit, but thanks for that image. Not just you. I feel like death warmed up. Wine never does this to me, what the hell?_ Not that she had any idea of how many glasses she'd had, she'd lost count after the second glass, but still.

 _Whatever those fruity drinks were must've been loaded. I haven't gotten plastered like that in a long time. John practically had to carry me inside. Now he's sleeping like a baby, and I want to kill him._

Sharon had forgotten about the drinks she'd had at the beginning of the reception. Jill was probably right. _Oh, yeah, I forgot about those. I hope Andy didn't have to carry me, but I don't remember much about coming home._

 _I thought you guys weren't dating?_

Sharon rolled her eyes. _We're not, he just brought me home, because I was clearly in no shape to get myself here…Ugh, I just remembered announcing that I had to pee right when we got home last night. Nice._

 _From the way he was looking at you last night, he probably even thought that was hot!_

 _Stop it! I'm going back to sleep. Talk to you later_. Sharon put her phone back on her nightstand and passed right back out, not waking again until Rusty was shaking her shoulder a few hours later. "Hey, Sharon, Flynn's here."

"Hmm kay," Sharon muttered, not opening her eyes or processing what he was saying. She sat up long enough to get a sip of ginger ale and lay back down.

"Sharon, Flynn's here. Something about your car."

" _Damn_ it." Sharon sat back up. Her headache was a little better, but whether her stomach was going to behave and keep everything where it should be was anyone's guess. "Tell him I'll be there in a minute."

Rusty wrinkled his nose. "Ew, Sharon, might want to brush your teeth first."

"Good plan." Sharon tugged at Rusty's arm and indicated for him to sit on her bed. "You okay? I'm so sorry about last night. That rarely happens, I promise."

Rusty shrugged. "Hey, as long as you're not yelling at me or letting boyfriends do stuff to me, I don't really care what you drink…Nice pajamas, by the way."

Sharon looked down at herself. She hadn't paid attention to what she was wearing, but now she could see that the t-shirt and pajama pants she had on belonged to Rusty. And the t-shirt was on backward. "Are you _kidding_ me? We'll talk some more when I get back, okay? This shouldn't take long, and I'll pick up lunch on the way home."

"What, no mass?" Rusty asked, feigning surprise.

" _Absolutely_ not. Father Stan would take one look at me and call an exorcist." Sharon kissed Rusty's cheek. "Be back soon."

"For the love of _god_ , Sharon, _please_ go brush your damn teeth."

"I am, I am." Sharon stumbled into the bathroom and gave her appearance an appraising look. She hadn't done the best job of removing her makeup the night before, and she had eyeshadow creased on her eyelids and mascara smudged under her eyes. She brushed her teeth, washed her face, and put on just enough makeup to mask how awful she felt at the moment. Or to try to mask it, anyway. Jesus _Christ_ , she was never drinking again. Her hair was flat and frizzy, so she brushed it back and clipped it up before changing clothes. She wasn't one to go out in public in yoga pants and a t-shirt unless she'd been working out and it was necessary, but having anything more restrictive around her waist than that wasn't happening. She'd salvaged her appearance as much as she could without keeping Andy waiting too long, so she went to the living room.

Andy looked up when he heard her coming down the hall. "I'm sorry I didn't wait for you to call me back, but your car will get towed if we don't pick it up before 11:00."

Sharon looked at her phone and saw the missed calls for the first time. "That's okay. I'm sorry, I didn't hear my phone." She got a fresh ginger ale from the refrigerator, knowing the car ride wasn't going to be ideal for keeping her nausea at bay. "Are you responsible for these?"

Andy nodded. "I stopped and got a couple of things on the way here last night. I knew you wouldn't be feeling great when you woke up."

" _Thank_ you. I can't tell you how happy I was to see that this morning." Sharon stuck her clutch in her purse, not taking the time to transfer the few items it held back to it, and followed Andy out the door.

The ride to the venue was quiet, with Sharon taking slow breaths and concentrating on not throwing up everywhere. "Do I need to pull over?" Andy asked, giving her a concerned look when she started gagging.

"Don't…think so. Okay, I'm good. I actually feel a little better after that. I am _entirely_ too old for this…If you utter a word about this to _anyone_ , then your on-call schedule will get really inconvenient really quickly."

Andy patted her hand. "It was a tough week, and you didn't sleep or eat much. I'm not surprised the alcohol sneaked up on you as quickly as it did. I won't say a word, I promise." The same CD from the night before was playing, and the last few songs weren't great, so he skipped through them and let it play from the beginning.

Sharon tilted her head. "Did they play this song at the reception last night?" Andy shook his head. Sharon looked confused. "I _swear_ I heard it last night."

Andy grinned. "Oh, you did. You put that CD in when we left, and—"

"Oh, no, I was singing, wasn't I?" Sharon grimaced as fuzzy bits and pieces of the ride home came back to her.

"You streaked through the dance floor, and you're worried about a little singing?"

" _Andy_! I did not."

"I'm kidding, I'm kidding. No, it was fun. Stop worrying about it, you were fine." Andy was quite familiar with the "oh shit what did I say or do last night" feeling that always surfaced after a night where some details were lost. "All right, here we are." He pulled into the venue and stopped beside Sharon's car.

Sharon looked down at the now mostly-empty space where the reception had been held. "I think I left my wrap, I'm going to go see if it's still there."

"Is that what this thing's called?" Andy asked, retrieving an item from his back seat.

"Yes, that's it. Thank you."

"There's a coffee shop not far from here that has good breakfast, if you're interested," Andy said. "You might want a little grease and coffee before you're in the car again for too long."

Sharon agreed, thinking that some food would calm her stomach down a little, got the information from Andy, and met him there. The coffee shop was a little busy, so they opted to sit outside. The shaded porch and gentle breeze kept it from being too hot. "The bacon, egg, and cheese croissant is a godsend for a hangover," Andy suggested as Sharon looked over her menu. "According to Provenza, anyway."

"That does sound good," Sharon agreed. "I'm so sorry, Andy. This isn't what I had in mind when I offered to go with you last night, I promise."

"I know. I'm just glad I went. If you hadn't convinced me to go, I probably would've ruined the progress I've made with Nicole and Drew."

Sharon raised her eyebrows. " _I_ convinced you?"

Andy rolled his eyes. "Please, Sharon, I heard Provenza telling you I was 'being an ass' about the wedding…Which, I was. But I know that's why you got me to go with you to speak with the victim's parents."

Sharon knew she was caught. "Well, you just needed a little perspective."

Andy nodded. "I certainly got it. And thank you. I'd be kicking myself to hell and back right now if I hadn't gone last night. Cleaning a pair of shoes and a couple of rides to your condo was a small price to pay."

"Cleaning your shoes—oh, my god!" Sharon's hand flew to her mouth as she remembered. "Seriously, Andy, I _never_ do that…" She looked at him with an embarrassed smile. "Why did you even come back this morning? Rusty could've taken me to get my car…Even though I doubt I would've made it by 11:00 and would've panicked when it wasn't there."

Andy shrugged and gave her a crooked grin. "Because you did me an enormous favor last night, and I know you were in an awkward position. And…You asked me to."

"Oh, yeah, I did, didn't I?" Sharon pressed her forehead into the heel of her hand. "Multiple times. Good god. I feel like I'm in college, trying to fill in the blanks from the night before with my roommates."

"You held yourself together pretty well," Andy assured her. "I didn't really realize how drunk you were until right before we left. We managed to avoid Sandra for most of the night, Drew managed to avoid us, and I'd be surprised if Nicole remembers much. She had a pretty good time, herself, so there's no trauma, there…Nicole really liked you, by the way."

"She did?"

Andy nodded. "I don't think she expected me to be…friends with someone like you."

Sharon didn't know what to say, and she was relieved when their food arrived. She ate slowly, and by the time most of her food was gone, she was starting to feel slightly better. Andy had been finished with his for several minutes, and he couldn't help but steal long glances at her as he waited for her to finish eating. Her relationship with everyone on the team had slowly grown more friendly in the last year, but seeing her so casual, not perfectly fixed up, and, well, _human_ -like was a surprise to him. Almost as surprising as it had been to have such a great time with her the night before. They'd liked all of the same songs, and he'd loved how it felt to have her in his arms…No. No. Fifteen different kinds of _hell_ no, he couldn't start thinking about her this way.

A few minutes later, Andy took the check before Sharon could react. "Andy, no, I'm paying."

"No, let me. You have no idea how much you helped me last night. Please." Andy quickly counted out some cash and gave the tab back to the server. "I don't need change, thanks."

Defeated, Sharon put her wallet back in her purse. "I was supposed to be buying you coffee, how did that turn into you buying me coffee and breakfast?" She looked at her watch. "Oh, my, I've got to get home. I haven't even looked at my phone, Rusty's probably been blowing it up about lunch."

"I should get going, too." Andy walked Sharon to her car. "You feeling a little better?"

Sharon nodded and fished her keys out of her purse. "After a little more Advil and a couple of hours on the couch, I'll be fine. You were right, that croissant worked wonders."

"Good. This was fun. Um, maybe we could, uh, do this again sometime?" Andy awkwardly suggested. "As friends."

"That was fun," Sharon agreed. "Um, sure. As friends. And minus the hangover."

Andy grinned. "Only if you'll sing like that sober. I'm gonna need to see that performance again."

" _Andy_!"

 **Thanks for reading, hope y'all enjoyed it! I've been terrible about responding to reviews lately, but I've appreciated all of you so much. :)**


	15. Chapter 15

**A couple of tumblr drabbles from October I forgot to post here. This nonsense is a result of a line from a Friends episode. Sorry if it's too cheesy. And for purposes of this story, we're suspending reality and the Dodgers haven't lost out yet :)**

 **October 2019**

 **"I** **never knew it could be this way."**

"No, baby, not in your mouth." Sharon knelt beside thirteen-month-old Marie and pulled her keys out of her mouth. In a maneuver she'd perfected when Emily and Ricky were babies, she sneaked her keys away and replaced them with a toy that lit up and made noise. Always an instant crowd-pleaser. With Marie distracted and staying in one place for a rare moment, Sharon returned to her perch in the large, comfortable chair on the back porch. The mid-October evening was growing cooler as the sun started to go down, and Sharon sipped her wine and kept an eye on Marie as she watched the autumn shadows begin to lengthen over the pool. The cool air and scent of tea olive drew her out to the porch with a glass of wine and a book most evenings during the fall, but there was no reading to be had when Marie was around.

" _She gets up and pours herself a strong one,_

 _And stares out at the stars up in the sky,_

 _Another night, it's gonna be a long one…"_ Sharon softly sang along with the porch speaker. _"You can't hide your lyin' eyes_ …"

"Hey, you're not watching the game?"

Sharon jumped when Andy appeared beside her. She'd gotten home late that morning after spending a few days in Galveston with her close friends from the neighborhood where Emily and Ricky had grown up, and Andy had been on the second week of a Major Crimes case when she left. They hadn't seen each other for longer than a few minutes at a time in almost three weeks. "Nice to see you too, honey."

"Sorry." Andy leaned down to kiss her, but he noticed Marie out of the corner of his eye.

Marie saw him at the same time and unsteadily stood up before happily toddling over to him, her light brown hair messy and her green eyes shining. "Ba!"

"Hey, my wild girl!" Andy scooped her up and threw her over his shoulder, making her squeal. "You have _got_ to stop looking so much like your Gammy. It's starting to creep me out." He held her for a few moments before placing her back on the floor. "Where'd she come from?"

Sharon adjusted herself in her chair. "Well, when a mommy and daddy love each other _very_ much…"

"I know _that_ part."

"I'm kidding. Emmett's parents were supposed to come keep her this weekend while Emily and Emmett are gone, but they couldn't come at the last minute…I've been checking the game on my phone, there's no score yet," Sharon assured him as he turned the outside TV on and scrolled through the guide for the game. She liked to go to Dodgers games, and she didn't mind watching them on TV with Andy or with friends, but she didn't care enough about it to watch them on TV by herself. "Nobody out, and Muncy just got to second base."

"Ah, second base," Andy lamented with a resigned sigh, in reference to their lack of intimacy in the last few weeks. "Lucky bastard." He thought for a moment, the metaphorical rules of baseball going through his head for the first time in decades, and he could remember them all except for second. "I can't remember what second base was now, and it's going to drive me crazy."

Sharon scooted over in her chair. "Come here and I'll show you."

"Don't mind if I do." Andy settled beside Sharon in the large chair and finally kissed her. "I've missed you. I'm glad you're home."

"I've missed you, too." Sharon sighed happily into his chest and let her hand wander up his thigh and fondle him between his legs. " _That_ is second base."

"By the time this game is over, it'll be a grand slam."

Sharon raised her chin and looked up at him in confusion. "I thought it was just a home run."

Andy leaned down and pressed his forehead to hers. "With you, it's a grand slam."

"Oh, that's a line."

Andy grinned. "A line that's working, is it not?"

"I didn't say it wasn't working, I just said it was a line…We'll let Marie play for a few more minutes and put her to bed, and then it's Gammy's and Papa's turn to play."

Andy rested his chin on Sharon's shoulder as they watched Marie play and start to get drowsy. They had moments like this often, but there were still times where he couldn't believe that he and Sharon were married and sharing grandchildren and having peaceful evenings on their back porch in the suburbs. And now they'd thrown talking in baseball metaphors into the mix. His life had taken a turn he'd never thought possible.

Sharon sensed a shift in his mood and turned toward him. "Honey? What is it?"

"Nothing." Andy tenderly stroked his hand down Sharon's arm and laced his fingers through hers. "I just…I never knew it could be this way."

Sharon's lips turned upward in a loving smile. "I know. I still can't believe it sometimes, either."

A little while later, Sharon folded laundry while Andy bathed Marie and put her to bed. With Rusty at his new boyfriend's house for the weekend, they had the house to themselves. "Is she down?" Sharon asked when Andy came back into the living room.

Andy nodded. "Batter up."

 **"You keep me warm." (This was posted on AO3 a couple of months ago).**

Andy watched as Sharon idly tossed an absurd amount of panties into her suitcase. "We'll only be there for five nights, are you expecting to shit yourself twice a day or something?"

Sharon gave him a disbelieving look. "I won't know which ones I'll want while we're there, I have to have options," she explained patronizingly, like he should've already known that.

Andy rolled his eyes and finished his own packing. Once that was done, he started dinner and talked to a neighbor who stopped by for a few minutes before going back to their bedroom. "Are you _seriously_ still packing? You were already packing before I even got home, and I'm finished now."

"Are you _seriously_ still asking questions?" Sharon looked over the contents of her suitcase. She and Andy were going to Oregon for a few days with some friends from her old neighborhood, and she couldn't wait to trade the 80 degree early October LA weather for real fall weather. Looking at her comfy leggings, sweaters, and warm pajamas had her ready for chilly, foggy mornings and evenings, pleasant, crisp afternoons, colorful leaves, hot tea and coffee, crackling fires, and needing Andy to warm her up. Sharon gently grasped his suspenders and pulled him closer to her to kiss him. "I'm almost finished."

Andy eyed her things strewn across the bed. They'd traveled together several times by now, and he still didn't understand why trips for less than a week required so much damn luggage. "Leave it to you to push the luggage limit on a five-day trip."

Sharon bit her bottom lip and sifted through her suitcase for Andy's favorite chemise. "I guess you're right, this is too much..." She dangled the navy, lacy garment in front of him. "Maybe I should leave this home. It'll be too cold for it, anyway—"

"No, no, take all you want," Andy quickly amended. He took the chemise from Sharon and put it back in her suitcase. "You won't have to worry about being cold, I can promise you."

On their third morning in Oregon, Sharon had set her alarm for 6:30 so they could go down to the lake and watch the sunrise. Any time she was in the mountains, she liked to watch the sun come up over the peak at least one morning.

"Why's it so _early_?" Andy pulled a pillow over his face, trying to muffle the sound of Sharon's blaring alarm.

Sharon turned off her alarm and snuggled more closely to him, pressing her cold feet against his legs. "I told you last night I was going to watch the sunrise. You coming?"

"I guess," Andy grumbled.

Sharon pulled on the thick leggings and warm, oversized sweater she'd laid out the night before while Andy rubbed his eyes and struggled to make himself get out of bed. A few minutes later, she went to the kitchen and put a coffee pod in the Keurig. By the time she heard Andy stepping into the kitchen, she had some hot tea brewing for him. He grabbed a couple of blankets and accepted the mug from her. "Thanks, honey."

Once they were on the dock and squeezed together in one of the lounge chairs, Andy settled the blankets over them and wrapped his arm around Sharon. She curled into his side and lay against his chest, enjoying the silence and stillness of the early morning. Fog was drifting across the water and mountains, and the scent of smoke was in the air from a nearby house's fireplace.

"To quote Rusty, it's cold as balls out here," Andy whined. He usually griped when Sharon dragged him out of the house at the crack of dawn in Park City, and even in the middle of August, it always managed to be cold there, too. Too cold for his liking, anyway. Admittedly, he did love the peace and serenity of a mountain lake early in the morning, especially now with the vibrant leaves peeking through the soft grayness of dawn. Such moments of peace were also appreciated the times when they were with Sharon's loud family, where silence for half of a second was hard to come by.

"It is..." Sharon agreed. "Whatever that means."

Andy rested his chin on top of her head. "Why do I always get roped into this?"

"You keep me warm." Sharon released a contented sigh and sipped her coffee as the sun's first rays started to streak over the mountain. The grayness around them slowly grew brighter as the sun slowly ascended over the mountain to the east until the fiery ball glided up from behind the mountain and pierced through the dawn with its brightness. With morning in full swing, they started back for the house. Sharon looped her arm through Andy's and held his hand as they walked up the few flights of steps. " _Whatever_ will we do to warm up?" She murmured.

Andy pressed his lips against the sensitive part of her neck that always made her quiver, smiling against her skin when he felt her react. "I have some ideas."


	16. Chapter 16

**40–"It's just a nightmare, it's nothing real."**

"Hey, you ready to go?"

Sharon looked up from her desk and smiled at Andy. "Just a second." She finished what she was doing, shut down her computer, and stood up to gather her things. Everyone else was gone, so she didn't protest when Andy kissed her. "You still staying over tonight?" She murmured in his ear.

"Yeah..." Andy gave her a look of mock concern. "But I don't think I have my pajamas."

Sharon shrugged. "I don't think you'll need them." They'd been getting more and more intimate lately, but Sharon was planning to finally take the final step that night.

"Ewwwww, you _guys_! Get a _room_!" Rusty had come back upstairs to ask Sharon something he couldn't even remember at the moment before heading to Gus's for the night, but whatever it was couldn't have been _that_ important.

"Sorry, honey." Sharon backed away from Andy and smoothed her blouse. "What do you need?"

"Something for nausea," Rusty muttered, making a hasty exit.

Sharon looked up at Andy. "Should we go before we earn my son even more years on a couch?"

They didn't waste any time and hurried through dinner. Andy practically quivered when Sharon stepped out of the bathroom in a navy chemise that left no mystery to her intentions. A little while later, he groaned when her phone started ringing. "Ignore it," he pleaded.

Sharon was tempted, but she pulled his face from her breasts and reached over to just _see_ who was calling...Provenza. " _Damn_ it," she muttered. After taking a moment to compose herself, she answered the phone, trying to control her breathing.

"Good Evening, Captain. We've caught a case, and we need you for this one...Have I caught you at a bad time?"

"Of course not. I was just, uh...Doing yoga," Sharon sputtered. She jabbed Andy in the ribs and covered his mouth with her free hand when he started chuckling. She wrapped up the call and reluctantly pulled herself away from him. "We have to go."

"Yeah, I gathered," Andy mumbled. A grin spread over his face as they started getting dressed. "Yoga, huh? New nickname for me? I like it."

A couple of days later, they finally headed back to the condo after no sleep. Andy was staying over this time mostly because he was exhausted, and the condo was closer to work than his house. After a quick dinner, the speediness due to fatigue this time, unfortunately, they collapsed into bed.

Andy woke up later that night to Sharon mumbling and thrashing around beside him. He tried to put his arm around her, but she pushed him away when he tried to calm her, never waking. Unable to go back to sleep, he tried to wake her, to no avail, so he just helplessly watched her toss and turn. She finally woke with a gasp, jumped out of bed, and hurried through the bathroom door. The hell was she doing? Andy was too stunned to move until a panicked " _Rusty_!" sounded from across the hall. Finally realizing that Sharon's nightmare must've been of the Stroh variety and that she was probably too drowsy to remember that he was at Gus's for the night, Andy tore through the bathroom after her before she could give herself a heart attack.

"Hey, it's all right. Rusty's at Gus's tonight, remember?" Andy pulled her into his arms, but he wasn't positive that she was fully awake.

"He—I—Stroh—"

"Is gone. It's okay, it was just a dream."

Sharon was still struggling against him. " _No_ , Andy, I _saw_ him. I saw him, but I couldn't get up. I don't know why, but I couldn't move. And then I _swear_ I heard Rusty scream—"

Andy nodded at Rusty's bed. "Look, so you think Stroh would've stopped to make the kid's bed? And your bedroom door has been closed since we went to bed, so how could you have seen him? Rusty's all right. It's just a nightmare, it's nothing real."

"Stroh is _very_ real." Sharon was more alert now and finally realized that Andy was right. The nightmares had slowed down, but she didn't know that they would ever disappear. This wasn't the first time one had sent her running to Rusty's room, but it _was_ the first time where she'd found his bed empty instead of a lump under his covers mumbling a disgruntled " _what_?" in her direction when she flung open his door.

"I know he is, but everything's okay." Sharon still felt tense in his arms, but he held her until she finally relaxed against him. "Do you want me to make you some tea, or are you ready to go back to bed?"

"Tea, please." Sharon walked with Andy down the hall, relaxing a bit more with his arm securely around her, and curled up on the couch with her favorite blanket while he made her a mug of tea. "Thank you." She gratefully accepted the mug and lay against his shoulder as she sipped it.

Andy stroked his fingers through her hair and rested his chin on top of her head. "Want to talk about it?"

Sharon shook her head. They sat in comfortable silence for a few minutes before she spoke again. "They're always _so_ real. You know how during a dream, there's usually something off? Like you think you're at home, but it's someone else's house? Or you're talking to someone, but you know they're really supposed to be someone else? _Something_ is usually out of place, but that's never true with these. They're _so_ vivid, and everything's exactly right. You were beside me, and the only thing different was that the door to the hall was open. I saw Stroh walk down the hall, and the gait was even the same as his, but I was frozen and couldn't move. They're worse when I haven't had much sleep."

"I'm so sorry. I didn't know you had dreams like that."

"I keep hoping they'll go away, the longer Stroh's gone." Sharon hadn't had one while Andy had been there before, and it wasn't something she cared to talk about.

"Do you want to sit on the balcony for a little while?" Andy suggested, seeing that she was still worked up and knowing that always relaxed her.

Sharon shook her head. "It's too—never mind. It's stupid."

"Uh, Sharon. I rambled on to you about the dream I had about Provenza and Taylor being Oompa Loompas for three days in a row a few weeks ago. Try me."

Sharon smiled. "It's too big. LA is. The view just reminds me that Stroh could be _anywhere_. I feel safer in here, where I feel like I have control over it."

Andy nodded. "I can see that. And it makes me feel kind of stupid for being freaked out by the Oompa Loompas."

Sharon looked up at him. "I thought it was Taylor and Provenza in that dream that freaked you out."

"Why would Taylor and Provenza freak me out?"

Sharon shrugged. "I don't know, _why_ would the Oompa Loompas freak you out?"

"Those little fuckers are creepy as hell!" Andy defended himself. "Nicole and Drew loved that movie, and even just hearing them sing from another room weirded me out."

Sharon laughed as she finished up her tea, then nuzzled into his shoulder. "I love you."

"Same here." Andy kissed her forehead and rubbed her back for a few minutes. He looked down when she started to feel heavier against him. "Want to go back to bed—I guess not," he murmured when he saw that she was asleep. She looked so peaceful, and he couldn't bear to wake her up. He pried the blanket from her hands and straightened it over them before getting as comfortable as he could under her. He was going to have a crick in his neck and a sore back the next morning, but it was well worth it.

Sharon woke up a couple of hours later, disoriented from lack of sleep and being on the couch. By the time she'd used the bathroom, the memory of her nightmare and how they'd ended up on the couch came back to her. She went back down the hall and softly shook Andy's shoulder. "Come on back to bed," she suggested when his eyes fluttered open.

"'Kay." He drowsily followed her back to the bedroom, wrapping a protective arm around her once they were back under the covers.

"You should've gotten me up sooner, that couldn't have been comfortable," Sharon mumbled, her eyes already closed.

Andy shook his head. " _You_ were comfortable. That was good enough for me."

 **41-"You should sleep in my bed more often."**

 **Set sometime during Season Four.**

Sharon jerked awake with a gasp, relieved that the dream of having sex with Andy in the middle of the murder room in front of god and everybody was just a dream. The yearnings it had created inside of her definitely were _not_ fictional, however, and it was taking a minute to catch her breath.

It wasn't the first time Andy had witnessed her waking up in a panic from a dream, and he draped a protective arm over her before he was able to pry his eyes open. "What'sa matter?" He mumbled. "You 'kay?"

"Yeah, uh…Dream," Sharon murmured, hoping he would go back to sleep.

Assuming it was a frightening dream, Andy sat up and pulled her into his arms, kissing the top of her head as she lay on his chest. He lingered for a few moments to smell her hair, acting like he didn't know about the small, sweet-smelling bottle in her purse that she spritzed through her hair before going to bed when they were together. "You want to talk about it?"

Sharon shook her head. She'd had a couple of similar dreams before, but only when they were at Andy's house, for some reason. She'd had physical relationships since Jack, but she'd made a point never to share a bed with other men before. Now, it was the opposite. She and Andy had been spending the night together a couple of times a week, give or take, for the last couple of months, but hadn't yet reached the physical step. Not the ultimate physical step, anyway, but they'd been slowly but surely making their way to that point. Sharon was taking it slow, for a variety of reasons. She was more than ready for it physically, obviously, but mentally, she wasn't quite there, although she knew it was getting close.

Andy reached over and switched on a lamp when he felt Sharon tremble against him. "Are you sure you're okay? Your cheeks are flushed. You want some water or something?"

"No, I'm okay," Sharon quickly answered. "Just want to go back to sleep."

"All right…You can wake me up if you need anything, or have another dream."

"I know." Sharon smiled up at him and kissed him before rolling over and getting comfortable again. Andy was asleep just a couple of minutes later, a trait of which she'd been envious since they started staying together at night, but it was a while before she was able to find sleep again.

On Saturday morning, Sharon was drawn out of bed by the smell of coffee drifting from the kitchen. It was a little chilly, so after brushing her teeth and a couple of rounds with mouthwash, she got Andy's robe from the hook on the bathroom door. Once Andy had gone back to sleep after she unintentionally woke him up the night before, it had been close enough to morning for her to go ahead and slip out of bed to brush her teeth and use the mouthwash in case she didn't have a chance to do so before seeing him in the morning. It would be a while before she was comfortable enough with him to expose him to morning breath, and she always took advantage of the fact that she usually had to wake up at least once during the night and would brush her teeth before getting back in bed. She inhaled his lingering scent wafting from his robe as she padded down the hall, still in bare feet. "Hey," she mumbled, stumbling to the coffee pot with her eyes barely halfway open. She was midpour when she remembered that, while Andy usually stuck with tea, he sometimes liked a decaf coffee. She paused and gave the coffee pot a suspicious glance. "Is this…"

Andy grinned. "Yes, it's 'real coffee,' as you put it. I went with tea this morning."

"I will _never_ understand the point of decaf coffee," Sharon muttered. She eyed Andy in just his boxers. A broken internal thermostat had been a lingering annoyance of being post-menopausal, but even she was a little cold this morning. "Are you not cold?"

Andy shrugged. "Waking up beside you makes me feel all kinds of things, but 'cold' is _definitely_ not one of them."

Sharon smiled. "And I thought you just did that at the condo to freak Rusty out."

"Yeah, well, that's just an entertaining bonus."

Sharon placed her coffee mug on the counter when she felt Andy's arms around her waist and his warm breath against her ear. "Morning."

"Good Morning, honey." Sharon tilted her face up to kiss him. It was a small thing, but she loved that she had to look up to kiss him, even when she was wearing heels. "Thanks for being so patient with me. I'll be ready soon, I promise."

"I know I tease you sometimes, but it's really not a big deal. I don't want to do anything until you're sure you're ready for it." Andy kissed her forehead. "However long it takes, I'll be right here. Blue balls and all."

Sharon poked him in the side. "You're so charming."

"I try." Andy leaned down to kiss her again. "You're beautiful."

Sharon rolled her eyes. "I just rolled out of bed and haven't even brushed my hair or put on a stitch of makeup."

"Exactly." Andy kissed her a little more powerfully, his hand sliding up to cup her breast.

By the time they came up for air, Sharon was breathless. She reached for her abandoned coffee mug and winced as she took a sip. "Ugh, it's cold now."

Andy nodded. "Yeah, well, I wish I could say the same." He opened the refrigerator and started pulling things out to make breakfast. "Tonight's a no-go, huh?"

Sharon nodded apologetically. "Emily's getting here this afternoon and will be here all week, and my niece has to be here for work Monday and Tuesday and is staying with me. I have to pick her up in a couple of hours." She dumped her coffee out and refilled her mug. "I do want you to see Emily and meet Maggie, though. Why don't you come over for dinner tomorrow night, and then you can stay over later next week when we don't have such a full house." She sipped her coffee. "But, I have to admit, my dreams are better when we're here."

Andy looked confused. "Really? But last night…"

Sharon shrugged. "It wasn't what you think. You were there, and let's just say we were doing things in the murder room that we could get written up for."

Andy grinned. "Ah, it's about time." He'd been having dreams like that about her for a while now and had shared them with her, but she hadn't told him anything like that yet.

Sharon nodded. "I only have them here, though. I don't know why."

Andy pushed her coffee mug away from her lips and kissed her again. "You should sleep in my bed more often."

"No arguments, here."

Sharon turned in early Saturday night, leaving Emily and Maggie on the balcony with a bottle of wine. After getting ready for bed, she called Andy and talked to him for a few minutes before doing her rosary ritual and going to bed. She woke up in a sweat just before midnight, and the nature of her dream left her surprised that she was in her own bed and not Andy's. This had been the most intense one yet, and, years ago, she would've gotten out of bed in search of a cigarette to help her enjoy the cool-down. While she'd quit before she got pregnant with Emily and avoided cigarettes during both pregnancies, there were occasional times afterward where she'd give in to cravings. She remembered that Maggie was there, and while she wished her niece wouldn't smoke for health reasons, it was coming in handy tonight. She got out of bed and wrapped her robe around herself, wishing it were Andy's. Emily and Maggie were still on the balcony, and they looked up in surprise when Sharon opened the sliding door.

"Hey, Mom, did we wake you up?" Emily asked.

Sharon shook her head. "I just, uh, couldn't sleep."

Noting her disheveled hair and sleepy eyes, Emily gave her a suspicious look, but didn't say anything.

The older and more removed from cigarettes Sharon got, the more it usually repulsed her, but the glowing stick between Maggie's fingers was enticing this time. "Maggie, you mind giving me a cigarette?"

"Sure," Maggie agreed, just as confused as Emily. "Since when do you smoke?"

"She doesn't usually, but she would every now and then when we were growing up," Emily answered.

Sharon's eyes widened. "You guys _knew_?"

Emily rolled her eyes. "Of course we did. You weren't nearly as good at hiding it as you thought you were."

Sharon accepted the cigarette and lighter from Maggie. "Yeah, well, sometimes a hellacious day at work just called for one. Or hellacious _children_ ," she added, with a pointed look at Emily. She hadn't had a cigarette in almost ten years, now, so she coughed a little as she lit it. Once her body adjusted, she inhaled again. "Oh, that's great. But _don't_ you get any ideas."

Emily wrinkled her nose, looking disgusted. 'There's no danger in that."

Sharon finished her cigarette and put it out in the ashtray she kept on hand for the occasional smoking visitor, usually Gavin. The post-coital smoke, even though it had unfortunately just been a dream this time, was just as phenomenal as she remembered. "Thanks, Maggie. I'm going back to bed. Love you guys."

Maggie looked at Emily once Sharon was gone. " _That_ was weird. She looked like she'd been asleep. The only time I smoke after being in bed is after sex. Or maybe a particularly good dream about it."

A look of horror came over Emily's face. "Oh, no! That's _exactly_ what that was! Oh, _gross_. I need another bottle of wine for this."


	17. Chapter 17

**Thanks for the request, welchwtch! I'm not great with writing jealous Sharon, so I apologize if this isn't what you were looking for :)**

 **Liberties have been taken with characterization (and with Madam Secretary's TV schedule)**

 **Thanks to everyone for reviewing the last chapter, I've been really bad about responding to reviews-sorry about that. If I ever write something you disagree with, I'd appreciate it if you would take two minutes to create an account before commenting-there are several topics I love to talk to other fans about to get their opinion on how something might've taken place. Sometimes we agree, sometimes not, but it's always a fun and friendly conversation. For that reason, it's a little annoying to not be able to reply to reviews that disagree with something. Especially on a topic that I've talked about with other fans and (generally) with people in real life to the point that I had no reason to think I was being "weird" about something, so I'd enjoy an amicable conversation about your point of view.**

 **Thanks for reading!**

As was usual for a Monday evening, Andy came home from a meeting to find Sharon and Rusty curled up on the couch and watching _Badge of Justice_. " _What_ do you guys see in this show? It's awful!"

"Johnny Worth," Sharon and Rusty murmured at the same time.

Andy rolled his eyes. "Oh, come on."

"May McDonald's not hard to look at, either," Sharon commented. " _That's_ one woman I would kiss."

"Huh..." Andy looked at the TV and back to Sharon, an intrigued look coming over his face. "You would _absolutely_ have my blessing. As long as I get to watch. That'd be pretty hot."

"Andy!" Sharon reached up and jabbed him in the side. "Don't make me call you _Andrew_."

Andy grinned. "Maybe I _like_ it when you call me Andrew."

Rusty looked disgusted. "All right, if your goal was to get the living room to yourselves, you got it. I'm out."

Sharon pawed at Andy with her foot until he sat down and settled her feet in his lap. "Ohhhh, that feels amazing," she hummed, closing her eyes as he kneaded them. "I _hate_ breaking in a new pair of heels. My feet have been killing me all day."

"How you walk in those damn things without breaking your neck is a mystery to me."

"Hmm, a little lower," Sharon directed, ignoring him. "Little bit more— _there_. A little deeper... _That's_ it. _Please_ don't stop."

"I was kind of hoping I'd hear something like that tonight...I just didn't think your feet would play such a large role."

"I'd kick you if this didn't feel so good...But keep rubbing, and I could be easily persuaded." Sharon looked over at the TV. "After _Madam Secretary_."

"Don't worry, I know where I stand on Monday nights." Andy looked down at his phone when it started buzzing. Catherine. Again. They'd dated several years ago and had come close to getting engaged. They'd managed to end on friendly terms, but now she was wanting to get back together and wouldn't leave him alone, despite the fact that he'd told her he was in a serious relationship. He didn't realize he'd stopped rubbing Sharon's feet until she impatiently nudged at him to start again "Sorry." Setting his phone aside for the time being, he got back to the task of getting her into bed.

On Tuesday morning, Sharon had an early meeting and was rushing around the kitchen, trying to get out the door. She heard Andy's phone ding with a text message, and she accidentally looked at it out of habit. "Is that Provenza?" Andy called from their bedroom.

"No, it's Catherine." Who the hell was _Catherine_? Sharon had never heard Andy mention a Catherine before.

 _Damn_ it. Andy finished getting dressed and went to the kitchen for his phone, knowing Sharon was going to have some questions.

Sharon eyed him. "You're dressed early."

"Yeah, I might run a couple of errands if I can get out of here in time."

Sharon was a little suspicious, but she had to leave now to be on time for her meeting. Not about another woman, but just that Andy was hiding something in general. "Okay, well I have to go. See you at work." She pecked him on the lips, grabbed her things, and left.

Later that morning, Sharon thought it was odd when Andy, Provenza, and Buzz were all a half-hour late and hadn't texted or called. She was checking her phone again to make sure she hadn't missed anything when Andy finally called. "Hey, uh...We caught a murder."

"Okay, where are you? Are Buzz and Provenza with you? What happened?"

"Yeah, they're here." Andy paused for a moment. "Uh, we found a body in a pool. Looks like homicide."

Sharon was confused. "How is this a major crime?...Wait, _you_ found the body? How did that happen? _Where_ are you?"

Andy sighed. "Well, Provenza and I..."

Sharon rolled her eyes. "Oh, good, because _every_ good story starts with _Provenza and I_."

"I found a house I thought you might like, so I wanted to show Provenza and see what he thought. I brought Buzz so he could film it for you, and then we found the body."

"Okay, I'll send the others. Text me the address. Tell Morales to let me know when he needs me at the morgue." Well, at least this solved _one_ mystery from that morning.

Later that day, Andy walked by a crowded interview room and nearly panicked when he recognized Catherine. "Provenza!" He hissed. "Who are all of these people?"

"Huh?" Provenza was busy going through the deceased realtor's phone. "Oh. They were all interested in the house, and it's not too much of a stretch to consider them suspects. Since you want it, too, this will keep any of them from acting on it."

" _You're_ responsible for this?! And you don't even think it's necessary?" Andy's face started turning red as his voice got more high-pitched.

"Ye gods, what's the problem?!"

Andy looked toward the interview room and back at Provenza. " _Catherine's_ in there."

"Catherine who?"

"Catherine. You remember. _Catherine_."

"Was she the one with the cats or the one with the eye twitch? You've gotta be more specific with the who's who of your dating history, Flynn."

Andy shook his head. "No, no, Rachel had the cats. Amanda had the eye twitch. Catherine's the one—"

Provenza's eyes widened. "Oh, yeah, the one you almost—"

Andy nodded. "The one I almost. And now she's been texting me for the last few weeks, wanting to get back together."

Provenza chuckled. "I tried to tell you this would all go to hell when you started calling the captain 'Sharon.'"

Andy rolled his eyes. "You're not helping."

"Oh, I wasn't trying to."

"Lieutenants? Is there a problem?" Sharon walked up and looked from one to the other, wondering why they hadn't made a move.

"Ah, no." Andy looked around, trying to conceal his growing panic. Sharon had stopped trying to understand Andy's and Provenza's antics long ago, so she didn't think much of their odd behavior.

"Well, come on, then! I'd rather not be here all night."

Andy's face turned pale. "You're going in there, too?"

"To speak with potential suspects? Yeah, I'd planned on it, if that's all right with you." Sharon impatiently nudged Andy forward.

Andy thought quickly. "It looks like you guys have it covered, so why don't I, um, try to find out more about the ex-husband?" As far as Catherine knew, he was still in robbery-homicide, so if he could manage to stay away from her, he might get out of this alive. Sharon gave him a questioning look, but didn't press him about it.

Andy retreated to his desk. A couple of hours later, he got a warning text from Provenza that they were about to let everyone go, so he went to hide out in the bathroom for a few minutes. When it sounded like the crowd had died down, he waited a couple of minutes before going back to the murder room. Just to find himself face-to-face with Catherine. So much for that plan.

"Andy! I was hoping I'd run into you."

Andy looked over his shoulder toward the interview room door and back at Catherine. Much like the murder victim, she'd had some work done, no question. Both to her face and other areas that he couldn't help but notice. "I _told_ you, I'm in a relationship."

"Oh, please, you're going to have to come up with something better than that. I won't try to pressure you into getting engaged this time. I don't want that anymore. Come on, we were great together."

"We can't do this here—"

"Can't do _what_ here?" Sharon approached them, noticing the sexual tension immediately. The nervous look on Andy's face and his avoidance of the interview room were helping her put the pieces together. "You guys know each other?"

"You could say that." Andy shot Sharon a pleading _I'll explain later_ look, but he couldn't catch her eye. He could tell by her expression that she was already well aware of the answer to her own question. "This is Catherine. We, uh, dated a long time ago. A _really_ long time ago."

"Ah, Catherine." Sharon's demeanor turned from mere amusement to slight suspicion. Of course Andy had old girlfriends that he might run into every now and then, but texting them was a different story. If it was even the same Catherine, but she had a sneaking suspicion that they were one and the same.

Andy smiled nervously. "It was so long ago that there were still cops around older than Provenza the last time we saw each other." He'd forgotten that Sharon had seen where Catherine had texted him that morning, and he didn't blame her for being taken aback.

"I see." Sharon wasn't the jealous type, but this woman and her not-so-subtle attempts at disguising her age and once-smaller breasts unnerved her. _The past is in the past_ had been her mantra regarding Andy's former relationships so far, but seeing it in person was different. "Well, Catherine, it was nice meeting you. Thank you for your help today." There was no question from Sharon's tone that what she really meant was _goodbye_ , and Catherine took the hint, having guessed pretty quickly that Sharon was Andy's "relationship." She gave Andy a look that said _this isn't over_ and left.

Sharon couldn't help but smile to herself when Provenza walked out of the interview room, widened his eyes in panic at the sight of the three of them, and did a 180 and went right back where he had come from. That brought her back to reality, and she pushed Andy and his sack of plastic, fifteen-years-his-junior ex-girlfriend to the back of her mind for the next few hours.

Later that evening, Sharon sat on the balcony with a blanket and a glass of cabernet. She'd never doubted Andy's devotion to her for a second, but knowing that a much-younger ex-girlfriend had been texting him was getting under her skin. He could've at least _told_ her about it. She still didn't know why she was letting it bother her so much. Even if this Catherine low-quality-plastic-surgery-barbie-knockoff were after Andy, she knew the efforts wouldn't be reciprocated. But why was Andy still communicating with her? Looking back, Andy had been acting strangely, especially sometimes after reading a text, for a couple of weeks now. If there was nothing to hide, then why was he acting so weird? Her suspicion heightened when she got a text from him that he was going home after dinner with the AA member he sponsored instead of to the condo. That was pretty common, but in light of recent events, her mind was in overdrive.

Sharon went inside to refill her wine and returned to the balcony. She called her sister, not to talk about Andy, but just to get her mind off of him before it drove her crazy. By the time they hung up, she heard the balcony door sliding open, and she was surprised to see Andy. "I thought you were going home."

"I was, but then I realized what that might have looked like..."

"Hmm." Sharon sipped her wine and looked out over the city. She'd actually been looking forward to relaxing alone and having her bed to herself, as she knew deep down that Andy wouldn't be unfaithful.

Andy stood awkwardly by the door, not sure what to make of her mood. "Do you want me to go home?"

"You're an adult, Andy, I want you to do whatever you want to do."

"I want to be with you. That's all I want. I promise."

"Yeah, you've made that clear." Sharon didn't know why she was in such an ill mood about this, but he was annoying the hell out of her with every word.

Andy wasn't sure what to do now. She seemed to want to be alone, but going home seemed like a dick move at this point, so he settled for going inside and changing into his pajamas. When he came into the living room, Sharon was refilling her wine glass in the kitchen. Instead of placing a soft hand on his shoulder or pecking him on the cheek like she normally would've done when she walked by him, she fixed him with an irritated look. "I'm taking a bath." Sharon placed her wine glass on the edge of the bathtub and sifted through her bath oil collection while her water filled up. Finally settling on a rose scent, she discarded her clothes on the floor and set a towel nearby. After tying up her hair and starting a playlist on her phone, she climbed in and slowly lowered herself into the hot water, hoping it would help her relax. She didn't like how she was acting, but she was aggravated and couldn't help it. _Only the Good Die Young_ usually put her in a good mood, but it wasn't doing anything for her this time. The water was getting cooler by the time she finished her wine, so she climbed out and dried off. She was in a slightly better mood, but not much. It had been a long day, so she said a quick goodnight to Andy and got ready for bed.

Sharon's mind was still racing long after she felt Andy climb in beside her and softly kiss her cheek. As usual, he fell asleep in just a couple of minutes, and she was still running through the day's events in her head. She hadn't thought much of his remarks about the realtor's "enhanced" physique, but after seeing Andy's ex-girlfriend and hearing a couple of remarks about how the realtor was known for getting a little too friendly with potential buyers, she was starting to have doubts.

The next morning, Andy got up early and made breakfast. He knew he hadn't done anything wrong, but he hadn't exactly handled the Catherine situation very well, either. It was going to be a long day, and he guessed Sharon would be opting for coffee, so he went ahead and got it started and placed her favorite mug on the counter while she was in the shower.

Sharon smelled coffee as soon as she stepped into the hallway from the steamy bathroom. With her silk robe wrapped around herself, she padded down the hall with wet hair and bare feet. She'd been running through the case in her head, and she couldn't help but laugh at remembering Julio's amused-turned-somber "butt...implants, ma'am" comment. But, all that did was remind her of Andy's comments and the doubts she'd started to have the night before.

Andy was standing at the stove, cooking eggs, and _damn_ it if he didn't look so cute in his striped pajamas when she wanted to be angry with him for a minute. "Thanks," she murmured as she filled her mug. She took her coffee back to the bathroom, brushed out her wet hair, and applied her makeup before going to eat breakfast.

"Crap, these are a little runny," Andy muttered as he scooped some eggs onto a plate.

"Oh, those aren't _firm_ enough for you, either?" Sharon retorted.

Andy turned around, and Sharon felt a little guilty when she saw the pained expression on his face. "I've been either ignoring Catherine's texts or trying to get her to stop, and I _told_ you I didn't mean anything—"

"I know."

"Then what's with the cold shoulder?!" Andy demanded.

"Nothing, Andy, just—I just—just give me a minute, okay?" Sharon knew she had nothing to worry about, especially since Catherine's uneven implants obviously hadn't been done by a doctor as skilled as the murder victim's doctor, but this was the first time she'd even thought about doubting Andy so far. She wasn't sure how to handle her feelings about it, but they would have to wait for now.

Sharon hurried through breakfast and quickly got dressed. "I have to stop by Taylor's office on my way in, and that's never a quick process, so I'm going to go ahead and go."

Andy nodded. "I need to go home tonight. I have a guy coming to look at my dishwasher and a couple of things I need to take care of at the house. You can stay over, or you can FaceTime me as many times as you want. That's all I'm doing, I swear."

"I know, Andy." Sharon stood on her tiptoes to kiss his cheek. "See you in a little while."

Late that afternoon, they reached a bit of a standstill in the case, so Sharon sent everyone home for the night so they could start fresh the next morning. She was kind of hoping Rusty would be staying at Gus's again so she could have a rare night to herself at the condo, but she wasn't disappointed to find him at home that night, either. She had a feeling that he'd been avoiding her lately, not wanting to talk more about his other mom's baby, and she and Andy had spent a lot of their free time looking at houses, so she hadn't seen much of him. She was tempted to talk to him about calling his mom and his unfavorable attitude toward the baby, but she decided to give him a break tonight. They ordered a pizza for dinner, and they were watching TV when Sharon remembered that she had the video from the house Andy wanted to buy. She could tell before they even played the video that Rusty wasn't thrilled with the idea of a new house, but her preoccupation with her own thoughts kept her from dwelling on that for the time being. As irritated as she was with Andy, his impish grin at the beginning of the video made her heart melt, and she realized that she missed him tonight. He was lucky he was so damn cute.

Rusty seemed to read her mind. "What's with you and Andy? You guys seemed kind of weird today." He didn't necessarily want them to break up, knowing how that would hurt Sharon, but he couldn't help but hope that something had slowed down the "buying a house/moving in together" conversations.

"It's nothing, honey. Just a misunderstanding. We'll work it out."

"Whatever it is, which is worse?" Rusty asked, never missing a chance to throw Sharon's own words back into her face. "Whatever you're arguing about, or being here without him?"

Sharon rolled her eyes when she recognized the advice she'd given him about Gus not so long ago. "We're not arguing, it's fine. We just—can you believe Buzz jumped into the pool like that?" She asked, changing the subject.

Sharon went to bed not much later, but between Rusty's obvious apprehension about a new house and feeling guilty about how she'd been acting toward Andy, she couldn't sleep. She sat up and texted him, hoping he was still awake, and she felt a little better after they'd texted back and forth a few times. After telling each other goodnight, she was able to find sleep a little more easily.

The team wrapped the case on Thursday evening, and Andy hung back in the murder room with Sharon as everyone else hurried to get out. There hadn't been much time to talk, but the distance from him and the distraction of the case had allowed her to let her aggravation simmer and see the situation more clearly. Andy knew her well enough to know that she just needed a little space sometimes, but he had sensed a change in her demeanor toward him and was pretty sure she was ready to talk. "Look, Shar, I blocked Catherine's number, which I should've done weeks ago, but I didn't want her to find out and be hurt. We were serious _years_ ago, but she started texting me out of nowhere just a few weeks ago. I kept telling her I was with someone else and wasn't interested, hoping she'd give up, and I just didn't handle it very well when she didn't. You can read our texts—"

"That's not necessary, honey." Sharon hoisted her purse over her shoulder and laced her fingers through Andy's. "Let's go home." She leaned against him as they walked toward the elevator, and she couldn't help but laugh when she thought of the poor woman's lopsided breasts. "I haven't seen such a botched boob job since the nineties!"

Andy had noticed as well, as it would've been incredibly difficult _not_ to, but he didn't want to respond the wrong way and start the fight all over again. "Really? I, uh, didn't notice."

"You didn't _notice_?! They were like _this_!" Sharon pointed one index finger toward the ceiling and her other one toward the floor.

"Yeah, well, I was a little distracted." Andy pressed a kiss to the side of her head, pausing to smell her hair.

A couple of nights later, Sharon closer her book and placed it on her nightstand. Andy looked down as she lay against him and traced her finger down his chest. Her mind had drifted back to the most recent case, and she was suddenly curious about something. "Do you have any fantasies?"

Andy looked confused. "What do you mean?"

"Sexual fantasies, I mean. After the last few days, this obsession with perfect appearances just has me curious."

"Oh. Why? You might do it?" Andy asked incredulously.

Sharon shrugged, but gave him a look that clearly said _yes_.

Nurse and patient," Andy answered, without hesitation.

Sharon looked up at him. "Really? I wouldn't have thought that."

"What would you have thought?"

Sharon shrugged. "I don't know. You strike me as the French maid type."

"Well, it _used_ to be banging the boss, but..." Andy kissed the top of her head. "That fantasy has become a reality. While we're on this, any for you? You can't bring this up and not tell me."

"Pilot and passenger."

The answer was so quick and certain that she had obviously thought about it before, and it was Andy's turn to be surprised. "Talk about unexpected. I thought you would've gone with something like the student and the professor."

Sharon shook her head. "All of my professors were either old as dirt or assholes, sometimes both. That fantasy never did much for me."

"Well, then, valued passenger, allow me to—"

"No, I'm the pilot," Sharon interrupted.

"Oh, right. Of course you are. So, now that we know this about each other..."

Sharon cupped her hand behind Andy's head and pressed her lips to his neck. "Prepare for takeoff."


	18. Chapter 18

**Hope y'all are staying safe and that this provides a little quarantine entertainment :)**

After spending the morning cleaning, doing laundry, and starting a couple of large pots of soup, Sharon took a shower and settled on the couch with a mug of tea and her favorite blanket. CNN had been blaring all morning, but she'd heard enough about the administration's incompetence with handling the coronavirus threat to last her a lifetime. It was rainy and gray out, and the silence that fell over the room when she switched the input on the TV was a relief. After a few clicks, the opening credits of the newest version of _Little Women_ were appearing on the screen. She'd seen it in theaters right after Christmas with a few friends, but she wanted to watch it again now that she could do so in sweatpants, wet hair, and no makeup.

Sharon startled when the doorbell rang, but she could tell by the way Poppy lost her shit that it was a delivery. She was generally a friendly dog, but for some reason, there was one FedEx delivery guy that made her go apeshit every time.

" _Stop_ it, Poppy," Sharon sharply reprimanded as she pulled herself off of the couch. Poppy whimpered and gave Sharon the wounded "fine, get yourself killed" look of any loyal dog just trying to protect their human. Sharon opened the front door and waved her thanks to the delivery man before kneeling and dousing the small box with Lysol. Raising two children had cured her of any germophobic tendencies she might've had at one time, but she wasn't taking any chances with this coronavirus mess. She saw Andy's car pull up and stop at the mailbox, so she put the box on the kitchen counter, washed her hands, and slipped into a pair of sandals before meeting him in the garage to help him bring in the groceries she'd asked him to stop for. He'd worked a half-day before Major Crimes shut down to work from home, unless they got a case, and Sharon had placed a grocery order that he could pick up without getting out of the car on his way home. Or so she thought. The first thing she saw through the back window was an ungodly amount of toilet paper. " _Andy_! What the hell?!"

"I know, but we could be stuck at home for a few weeks—"

"So you thought you'd buy a fuck ton of toilet paper?!"

Andy shrugged. "I saw people leaving the store with shopping carts full of it and thought I was missing something, so I went to get more."

Sharon rolled her eyes. "We just got a month's supply from Amazon yesterday, and we still had several packs left then. There will be people who really need it but won't be able to get it because everyone else is panic-buying."

"I didn't think of it like that..." Andy got out and started unloading groceries. Defeated, Sharon joined him.

Once the car was unloaded, groceries were sanitized, and hands were properly washed, Andy got a spoon and went to the stove, practically salivating. He'd picked up lunch for the two of them on the way home, but the aroma of the soup was too good to pass up. Sharon shook her head and took his spoon from him. "Nuh-uh. I'm freezing that in case any of us get sick."

"But..." Andy looked longingly at the large pots on the stove. "There's so much!"

"And we could end up with three sick people here, for all we know. Or some of our neighbors might get sick and need some."

"I guess," Andy muttered, sounding much like Rusty had when Sharon had informed him that he wasn't going anywhere unless it was necessary once he got home from work that afternoon. UCLA was switching to remote lectures soon, and today was his last day going to the office of the law firm he was clerking for before working from home when he could. "Did the kid finally come around on the self-imposed lockdown?" Andy asked, seeming to read her mind.

Sharon nodded. "It took a minute for him to realize that just because he would most likely be okay even if he did get sick, that we might not be so lucky if he brought it home and passed it to us."

Andy rolled his eyes. "He didn't understand that it's not all about him? You're kidding."

Once the groceries were put away and the overflow of toilet paper was stashed in the garage, Sharon opened the package that had arrived earlier. It was the Chanel moisturizer she'd been expecting, and she twisted the cap off and sniffed the familiar scent she loved before putting it back on the counter. She was surprised when Andy did the same. She couldn't quite identify the expression on his face, but she didn't ask any questions and started unpacking their take-out.

Later that evening, Sharon and Andy were cooking dinner together when Rusty came home. "Nuh-uh, wash your hands, put your clothes in the dry-cleaning hamper, and go take a shower," Sharon instructed when he started to open the refrigerator.

"This is going to be a _long_ ass few weeks," Rusty muttered.

Sharon raised an eyebrow. "Would you rather be safe or sorry?"

"I know, I know, you've already threatened me multiple times."

On Sunday Morning, Sharon hummed and snuggled more closely to Andy when she woke up. She hated what was going on, obviously, but she wasn't complaining about the fact that he wouldn't have to rush to get up and out of the house in the morning for at least a couple of weeks. She slid one of her legs between his, taking in the lazy, early morning and the soothing sound of rain falling outside. With half-opened eyes, Andy kissed her dead in the eye, probably aiming for her forehead. Sharon put her hands on his cheeks and guided his mouth to hers.

"Starting this quarantine off right, huh?" Andy murmured against her lips when it was evident that she had more than a good-morning kiss on her mind.

Sharon shrugged. "What else is there to do?" _And someone's going to have to convince Poppy to go out in the pouring rain to pee, and it's not gonna be me._

Later that morning, Sharon and Andy cooked breakfast together. Sharon made bacon and eggs for herself and Rusty, while Andy stuck to healthier things for himself. Rusty stumbled to the coffee pot soon after 10:00 and made a face at the oatmeal Andy was doctoring up. Sharon batted his hand away when he reached for a piece of bacon. "Just a second, everything's almost ready. Get some plates and glasses out of the cabinet."

"Fine…Oh, come _on_ , you guys, can't you keep your paws off of each other for half of a second?!" Rusty whined when Andy grabbed Sharon's butt as he walked behind her. "Social distancing, please."

"Sorry, kid…Eh, no I'm not," Andy replied, grinning at Sharon.

"Forget the coronavirus, I'm going to die from disgust before this is over," Rusty muttered.

Poppy ambled into the kitchen and lay down at Sharon's feet under the table while they were eating, having smelled bacon and knowing whom the pushover was. As soon as Sharon felt the dog's furry weight against her bare feet, she broke off half of a piece of bacon and slipped it under the table when Andy wasn't looking. He had been the one to find her and bring her home, and he couldn't figure out how Sharon had managed to become the stray dog's favorite human, and Sharon planned to keep it that way.

Emily facetimed while they were cleaning up, and Sharon quickly dropped the sponge in her hand and picked up her phone. It had been less than a week since she'd last seen nineteen-month-old Marie, but she was already missing her like crazy.

"Gammy!" Marie exclaimed, reaching her arms toward the phone.

"Hi, sweetheart," Sharon crooned through the phone. "Gammy misses you so much!"

Andy leaned over Sharon's shoulder, absently brushing her hair back from her neck. "Hey, wild girl!"

"Poppy!" Marie grinned. Rusty leaned in long enough to say hello before going back to his own phone. Sharon and Emily chatted for a few minutes with Marie piping in with random words here and there.

"You're in a good mood, Mom," Emily observed. "You guys taking advantage of the quarantine already?"

A horrified look came over Rusty's face as their better-than-usual moods and constant looks at each other that morning started to come together. " _Ew_ , Em, I have to _live_ here!"

"Speaking of which, when are you going to tell us about your new boyfriend?" Emily barreled on.

"What?" Sharon looked at Rusty, whose expression had turned to panic. " _What_ boyfriend?!" Rusty was frozen, unable to speak. Sharon looked back at Emily through her phone. "How did you know?"

Emily rolled her eyes. "Speaking of good moods, he's actually had a few recently, and he's suddenly been guarding his phone like Fort Knox. My guess would be his 'friend' Logan that he used to talk about all the time, but hasn't mentioned at all in a few weeks, probably to keep us from getting suspicious. It's not rocket science."

Sharon looked at Rusty. "Is this true?"

"Fine, but we are _not_ playing twenty questions. I'll tell you what I want to when I want to."

"Of course we won't—" Sharon started.

"Hold on, Mom, I didn't agree to this," Emily interrupted. "Now that the cat's out of the bag—"

"I'm leaving now." Rusty went to the living room and started flipping through the channels on the TV.

"Poppy?" Marie asked, obviously wanting to see the dog, this time. She had unintentionally named the dog with her toddler-tongue of "Papa" the day Andy found her and begged Sharon to keep her. Sharon tilted her phone under the table to show the dog long enough for the toddler to be satisfied.

Sharon ended the call a few minutes later, and she and Andy finished cleaning the kitchen. With a refilled coffee mug, Sharon curled up in the recliner and logged in to Emily's facebook account on her computer. St. Joseph's was live-streaming mass for the time being, and she was enjoying being able to watch it in the comfort of her pajamas and not having to go out in the pouring rain. The familiar scene of the sanctuary and the recorded piano music playing _It Is Well With My Soul_ filled her with comfort.

"You know, _some_ people would take the break from mass obligation as an actual _break_ ," Andy commented as he squeezed in the chair beside her.

"Oh, right, I should go ahead and tithe," Sharon murmured in response to Father Stan's reminder of remote methods of doing so, ignoring Andy. She opened her bank app on her phone and transferred her monthly commitment. When the service was over, she shut down her computer and rested on Andy's shoulder. Rusty had found _How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days_ , one of her favorites, on TV.

"Since when do you like chick flicks?" Andy whined in Rusty's direction.

"I don't, but Matthew McConaughey takes his shirt off a _lot_ in this movie," Rusty explained.

"Indeed, he does," Sharon agreed dreamily. "Ooh, Rusty, have you seen _A Time to Kill_? Mississippi summer, no air conditioning. Talk about taking his shirt off."

Rusty's eyes widened. "No, but that's next!"

"Oh good god," Andy grumbled.

Sharon gave him an innocent look. "What? That's not a chick flick. Compromise. Ashley Judd doesn't look so bad in that movie, either."

"Oh, yeah...I'm okay with that compromise."

The first week or so of quarantine went by fairly smoothly, but after over two weeks of captivity, tensions were rising. Andy was working from home, but even the paperwork had slowed down a bit, and having both him and Rusty underfoot all day was definitely taking some getting used to for Sharon. Even though she was retired, she was usually gone a good bit during the week with volunteer commitments, doing things at church, and seeing friends and Emily's family. Being at home around the clock, especially with a needy, whiny husband and son, was a new experience that she didn't care much for.

" _Andy_ , I closed the door behind me for a _reason_ ," Sharon said, exasperated, when Andy followed her into the bathroom one Wednesday afternoon. Her annoyance rose when she spotted an empty toilet paper roll beside the toilet and a fresh roll on the back of it. Was an inability to replace the damn toilet paper roll built into the DNA of men? It drove her insane. "But, while we're in here, how about a teaching moment? When you use the last of the toilet paper, the new roll goes _here_ ," she explained. " _Not_ the back of the toilet."

"I know, I know, you tell me all the time!"

"Well, it obviously bears repeating!"

A few minutes later, Sharon got her Yeti out of the cabinet and made a margarita. One of her friends in the neighborhood had had the idea for them to take chairs to the ends of their driveways so they could see each other and talk without being exposed to one another, and seeing another human being in person who _didn't_ have a penis was long overdue.

"What—oh, yeah, I forgot you guys were having a little hen party this afternoon," Andy commented as Sharon sprinkled margarita salt over the top of her drink. "And what is the purpose of this again?"

"Mo-om, I need to go to the store. We're out of potato chips," Rusty complained from the pantry. He'd been trying his hardest to find any excuse to leave the house for the last few days.

"Those aren't a necessity, Rusty, and I'll get some next time I have groceries delivered," Sharon answered calmly. She gave Andy a pointed look. "What were you asking me, again? Come on, Poppy, we girls have to stick together." Poppy looked lazily at her from where she was lying down near the window, soaking in the warm sunlight, but she scrambled to her feet when she saw her leash in Sharon's hand. Sharon hooked the leash to her collar. "Want to go outside for a little bit?" Poppy barked excitedly and wagged her tail. Sharon kissed Andy on the lips and Rusty on the cheek. "Love you guys."

Sharon was a few minutes ahead of the scheduled time by the time she pulled a tailgate-style chair to the end of the driveway, but she was going to lose her mind if she stayed inside for another second. Apparently, everyone else was in the same boat, as the other five had already started to gather. Sharon situated the handle of Poppy's leash under her chair and greeted everyone before sitting down. She'd used the long leash so the dog could roam around the yard. A couple of drinks and a long conversation full of laughs later, her mood had lifted considerably. Which was a good thing, because as she approached the garage with Poppy, she saw that the dog had engaged in a toilet paper massacre at some point while they were outside. Bits of plastic wrapping and toilet paper were everywhere. "Poppy!" Sharon chastised. The dog looked up at her with the saddest of innocent puppy eyes. "Oh, no you don't, those puppy eyes are not going to work on me…Oh, god, who am I kidding?" Sharon patted the top of her head and let her into the house.

Hearing the commotion, Andy came to the garage door. "What—what the hell happened? Were you not watching her?"

Sharon rolled her eyes. "As long as she wasn't near the road and I could hear her and had an idea of where she was, _no_ , I didn't keep my eyes glued to her every second. This wouldn't have happened if you hadn't decided we needed to equip ourselves with toilet paper for the next twelve years."

"Don't try to pin this on me—never mind, it doesn't matter. Hey, kid!" Andy called into the house. "You were just complaining about being bored, so we thought we'd help you out a bit." Andy got some trash bags from a shelf in the garage and separated a couple for him and Sharon.

Rusty appeared in the doorway to the garage. 'Wha—okay, this is _not_ what I had in mind. Whose idea was it to get a dog again?"

After dinner a few days later, Sharon went out to the porch with her computer and a glass of wine. She'd cooked dinner, so she'd left the responsibility of cleaning the kitchen to Andy and Rusty. One of her nieces had gotten the idea to do a family video chat on Zoom after having to use it for work a couple of times, and while Sharon had been talking to other members of her family on the phone and FaceTiming a lot more than usual lately, she was excited to "see" everyone at once. It took a few minutes to talk some of the technologically challenged ones through getting connected and switching to video, but before long, her siblings and their spouses and children were looking back at her. Being in isolation was particularly problematic for such a loud bunch, and it took a few minutes of talking over one another just to get the greetings out of the way.

When Sharon saw Rusty join the chat, probably from his computer in his room, she knew Andy would be out soon. Sure enough, he appeared a couple of minutes later with a fresh glass of wine in his hand. "Thought you might need a refill."

"You read my mind." Sharon finished the last sip of her glass and placed it on the table in front of the swing before taking the other glass from Andy. "This is why I married you."

"I knew there had to be a reason." Andy kissed the side of her head.

"Whoa, now, we clearly should've set some ground rules," Sharon's niece spoke up. "Rule number one, don't be nauseating."

"Good luck with that," Rusty retorted. "They're either at each other's throats or being gross. There is _no_ in-between."

The next afternoon, Sharon and Andy took Poppy for a walk around the neighborhood. As they approached their driveway on the way back, they heard the garage door from the house across the street open. They didn't think much of it until they heard hysterical laughter. "What just happened?" Sharon called to their neighbors.

Becky held up a Corona beer can. "Our daughter was telling us about some video she saw somewhere—the youtube, the twitter, I don't know—but anyway, you put a Corona beer in the hooks inside of your garage door, then hit the switch to open the door. As the door goes up and back along the ceiling, the beer will be upside down, so you follow it and chug it. We joked about trying it, and our daughter laughed at us, so we had to it for real." Becky shrugged. "We're bored out of our minds, and that was actually pretty fun."

Sharon shrieked with laughter, but Andy gave her a look. "Don't you get any ideas."

"Too late." Sharon waved to their neighbors before they headed back to the house. Andy didn't drink that much, but, ironically, he would drink a Corona or two every now and then at the beach or a hot afternoon by the pool. He drank just often enough for them to keep a stash in the garage refrigerator, a habit he was starting to rethink.

Sharon pressed the button to close the garage door before getting two beer cans out of the refrigerator. "Sharon, really—"

"Oh, come on, Andy, it'll be fun! You have to admit we're running low on entertainment around here."

"Oh, all right."

Once the beer cans were in position and popped open, Sharon pressed the button again to make the door rise and got in position. She got a little on her face, but her beer-chugging skills from college came right back to her, like riding a bike.

Andy, on the other hand, didn't fare so well. He coughed and sputtered as more got on his face than in his mouth, and he lost his footing and hit the ground as the last bit poured onto his face. Sharon caught the last bit of hers in her mouth before looking down at Andy. "Are you okay?" She managed to get out through choked-back laughs. As soon as he nodded, she stopped trying to hold it back and started laughing hysterically.

Andy glared at her as he stood up, rubbing his now-sore ass. Her side of the "Corona Challenge" was mostly dry, as was her face. "Wait, how did you do that? You didn't spill hardly any!"

Sharon shrugged. "You didn't know you were married to the kegstand queen of Theta? You have to open your throat, did you never chug beer in college?"

Andy shook his head. "Not much. I tried a couple of times when everyone else was doing it, but I could never get it right…" He gave Sharon a leering look. "I would _love_ to see you do a kegstand. Open your throat, huh? That actually explains a lot."

Sharon lightly jabbed him in the side. " _Andy_!"

The next morning, Andy was still sleeping when Sharon slipped out of bed. It was a little chilly out, but she needed some fresh air. After changing into leggings and a sweatshirt, she brushed her teeth and looked at herself in the mirror. She wasn't as diligent about staying ahead of her roots since she'd retired, and last week's canceled salon appointment had been disastrous for her hair. She couldn't remember the last time she'd put on makeup, but she was still adhering to her morning and nightly skincare regimen. As she applied moisturizer, she put more than usual on her chin, as her skin was irritated from Andy's failure to shave every day. With a mug of coffee, her book, and her favorite blanket in hand, she went to the back porch and settled in the swing with her favorite playlist playing from her phone.

A little over an hour later, Andy came out to join her. She smiled at him and marked her place in her book as he got comfortable in the swing beside her. He'd been annoying the hell out of her for much of the last week or so, but she loved his disheveled and sleepy state when he had just woken up. She extended the blanket to him and lay on his shoulder. "Morning."

"Morning." Andy lowered his forehead to hers and inhaled the scent of her moisturizer. "I love the smell of that cream or whatever…Did I ever tell you about why I kept that stuff after…well, after all of the Stroh stuff?" Even a couple of years later, he still couldn't refer to her as being dead, even though it had been a ruse.

Sharon shook her head. "I do remember being surprised that my makeup and clothes and everything were still there. I was dreading having to replace it all and getting a new phone and everything, but it was all still right there waiting for me."

Andy nodded. "Yeah…I couldn't get rid of it. Every night when I thought you were gone, I would smell that tube and call your phone to listen to your voicemail. I couldn't face life without you, and that was the closest I could get to you. Same with your clothes. Having enough closet space for once would've been unbearable, so I left everything where it was. I would've done something about all of it eventually, but thank god I didn't have to."

"Andy…" Sharon cupped his cheek with her hand and kissed him. "I'm sorry it had to be done that way, but if—"

"I know," Andy assured her. "We could've messed something up and tipped off Stroh if we'd known you weren't really dead. You were right, the fewer people involved, the better." They sat in silence for the next couple of minutes, listening to the music from Sharon's phone.

 _Don't you worry_

 _Sometimes you've just gotta let it ride_

 _The world is changing_

 _Right before your eyes_

 _Now I've found you_

 _There's no more emptiness inside_

 _When we're hungry, love will keep us alive_

 _I would die for you_

 _Climb the highest mountain_

 _Baby, there's nothing I wouldn't do_

Andy kissed the top of her head and pulled her closer to him. "Can we stay like this forever?"

"Hmm, fine with me." Sharon nuzzled into his shoulder. "And if people don't stop being dumbasses and going out when it's not necessary, then we just might have to."

 **This refers to a hastily-written "story" I wrote right after what didn't happen—a lot of you probably missed it, but you just need to know that Sharon faked her death to keep Stroh from going after Emily or Ricky to distract her (we already know they thought he was after Rusty), and also so Stroh wouldn't consider her when he was using his m.o. of spreading the LAPD too thin and she could be an extra body if backup were needed.**

 **My Sharon is retired (by choice) and says "fuck" every now and then, sorry about it :). She and Andy bought a house a couple of months after the event that didn't happen.**

 **The canon of Andy being an alcoholic is suspended for purposes of this chapter, and liberties have been taken with characterization, in general.**

 **Guest reviews are now being moderated. I can handle criticism just fine, but it's usually unwarranted, and I'd like to have the ability to privately (and civilly) respond to it—if you're confident enough with whatever criticism you may have, then you can take two seconds to create an account.**

 **For the positive guests (and all reviewers, y'all are amazing), thank you, as always! Don't worry if your review doesn't show up right away, it'll probably take a minute for me to remember to go approve them.**

 **Thanks for reading!**


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